hi  Tonya   My nephew was not diagnosed before his birth. There was no reason to  expect anything was wrong with him.He was just overdue, When he was born they told his parents he would not live,there fore  they were planning to give him comfort measures only .His parent had him moved to another hospital where the surgery was performed to cover the opening in his head.He was able to bottle feed,so his momma feed him.The doctors told his parents he would live only 3 days. They went home and one day lead to another and another

he was able to sit up  in the corner of the couch for support.He was never able to walk,He did make noises like a small baby makes when they are fussy.You could tell when he needed something he would become fussy.He often would pull at his hair where the scar was.. He had to take lots of seizure meds. We were never sure how much he could see .You could talk to him and see those long eyelashes batting back and forth you could tell he was listening. Whether he understate what you were saying I don,t know He did go to school . His momma was the most dedicated person I have ever seen.He did have to have a feeding tube when he was about 15years old i think that was the age.He had to have surgery to release the tendons in his legs as he grew because they were tight  because he could not walk , He had surgery on his spine and a rod was fused to it due to curving of is spine.I did not realize till i started this paper for school how lucky we were to have him,we always went to church and always prayed fro him to be healed It is not till now that a realize That god had answered our pray just because he was a live and fairly healthy  He had to have a trach when he was about 16 years old also. His name was Wendall He died in Feb 1999 he was not 18 he was 17yrs old He just stopped breathing. His mother and dad rushed him to the hospital his mom did CPR all the way there. His mother was wonder full I can,t even tell you how devoted to this child she was. She  went to the funeral home and bathed and dressed him for the funeral she said she always bathed and dressed him and she did,t want anyone else to do this.Also the few times he was in the hospital she would give him the meds she would never allow the nurse to do this she was totally devoted to him.I hope this helps you I don,t want to give you a since of false hope cause i do realize now that he was a  miracle . My first child died at birth so I do understand what that is like.

sassy_shyone <sassy_shyone@...> wrote: