Diagnosed at 3 Months
Colton
Story Written by Mother
My son Colton was born at 26 weeks’ gestation due to a placental abruption. At around three months old, he was diagnosed with hydrocephalus and a cyst due to grades three and four brain bleeds. His first year of life was an emotional roller coaster filled with challenges and uncertainty. Colton spent nearly six months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and later the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Before his first birthday, he had already undergone a total of five brain surgeries.
After spending 109 days in the NICU, we were home for less than 24 hours before having to rush Colton back to the hospital and PICU. This was one of the scariest days of our lives. He was taken for emergency brain surgery once again, which led to another long and difficult hospital stay.
Along with his hydrocephalus and prematurity, Colton had developed meningitis, which led to a shunt infection and another shunt revision. Remarkably, he fought meningitis not once, but twice! 
Colton is now four years old and thriving, to say the least! With his programmable valve and ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt placed about three years ago, along with undergoing an endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) procedure, the difference has been night and day. We are incredibly grateful for how far medicine has progressed and for the doctors who have saved his life multiple times.
He has beaten all the odds. Doctors gave him a 14% chance of survival and a very uncertain future. Despite that, he now participates in three therapy sessions each week, and he is progressing and doing amazing in! Thanks to his incredible therapists, nurses, doctors, early intervention, and a great deal of learning on our part as new parents, along with his own determination, Colton has come so much farther than anyone imagined and would not be where he is today!
We are so proud of everything Colton has accomplished in his short life so far, and we can’t wait to see all that he’ll do in the future. Today, he’s walking, running, talking, playing, loving his chickens, laughing —truly the happiest little boy. We couldn’t have asked for a stronger hydro warrior, one who refuses to let anything stand in his way!
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