Spina Bifida
When Ricky was born, we found out that he had a form of spina bifida called lipomylomeningocele. Dr. Cheryl Fekete broke the news to us after we had several hours of wondering what was wrong. We had to go to Children's Hospital when he was one day old. We met Dr. Oakes who scheduled an MRI that day and scheduled surgery for the following week. The surgery was long but very successful. The prognosis was Ricky had a 20 percent chance of walking with surgery and maybe a five percent chance without it. We always knew Ricky would walk. He was a very determined baby. He started rolling over at six months; although it took almost that long for his left leg to move. He started sitting up at nine months, and walked at 16 months. From there he played soccer, T-ball, and basketball until March 30, 2008 when he had his second tethered cord surgery on his back for spina bifida. This time when he woke up he couldn't move anything from his waist down. His nerves had been manipulated and he's had to go through a lot of rehab just to get where he is today walking with a brace and a cane after another surgery on his left foot at Children's by Dr. Killian. The doctor's are so wonderful! Ricky is a boy scout and a fabulous big brother to little sister Amy. Ricky is very determined and he never, never gives up! Children's is a second home for us at times. With all the surgeries, hospitalizations, and doctor’s visits; we have developed friendships with nurses on the 4th and 6th floors. It's comforting to know they really care. We've had many hospital stays in Ricky's seven years of life, and Children's has the most caring and kind people. Thank you for being there for us!
