Life with ‘the little warrior’ 19 months after encephalocele surgery

Photo courtesy of Lorrin Sell Nearly every morning in the quiet, early light, 19-month-old Owen Sheridan awakens not with a cry but with a steady, strong-willed yell, just to tell his parents he’s ready to begin the day. “We will change his diaper and bring him into bed with us,” says Owen’s mom Jen Sheridan. “He will babble happily. And when he smiles, it is the sweetest thing.” For the Sheridans, the smile is just one of the many miracles since Owen, the little warrior as they call him, returned home from Boston Children’s Hospital on Jan. 11, 2014. Born with a rare growth called an encephalocele, Owen was given little chance of survival. During early development, fluid and tissue normally encased in the skull had seeped outwards forming a large mass on top of his head. The growth was so large—more than half his weight—the Sheridans weren’t able to hold him for the first four weeks of life. Doctors at a hospital near their home in Pennsylvania had never seen an encephalocele case so severe. Because of its size and the amount of brain matter and blood vessels involved, surgery was too risky. The Sheridans were advised to arrange for palliative and hospice care. Kevin and Jen began desperately searching for other options. Everywhere they went they were told surgery would be a death sentence. But Jen remembered a story she had read before Owen was born, an article about a boy whose encephalocele was removed at Boston Children’s Hospital. The Sheridans de...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Our patients’ stories Source Type: news