Travis

My name is Travis and I was born March 13, 1987.  I am an identical twin. Luckily my twin brother was able to escape a lifetime of hydrocephalus with sedation by Phenobarbital. Throughout my lifetime I’ve had three types of shunts and over seventy shunt revisions. In my life I’ve had two shunt infections.

At birth a VP shunt was placed. In 1997 I had sixteen revisions spanning from February 18, 1997-December 1997.  After moving to Tennessee, my neurosurgery was taken over by Dr. Lewis Harris in Knoxville, Tennessee. I credit Dr. Harris with saving my life. He placed the Codman Hakim Valve. This valve was a miracle for me up until fifteen years later due to my slit ventricles and over draining. Between these two factors, in July 2013, my VPL shunt failed to move my CSF and began to clog up. This caused a massive pleural effusion in my chest cavity. By the time the problem was discovered. I was hours away from high pressure problems.  This is when I developed my first shunt infection. My second shunt infection came when a faulty valve was placed in 2014. Since a new valve has been placed, my quality of life has been greatly increased.

---

Tell us about your journey with hydrocephalus!

Share your story of hope and perseverance with us! We will feature the amazing individuals in our community who are living life to the fullest regardless of their condition! Stories are reviewed by our staff and posted on our website and through social media. Stories should be no more than 800 words long. Click here to submit your story today!

Let’s SHARE. Let’s CONNECT. Let’s raise AWARENESS! Let’s INSPIRE!

For questions, email: communications@hydroassoc.org with the subject line “Share Your Story”.

Become a Grassroots Advocate for Hydrocephalus today! Visit our Advocacy Action Center.