Primary Development Delay
Parker McQueen is a child of Children’s. His father, Dr. Mike McQueen has spent countless hours at the hospital with Parker, but his own experience with Children’s began back in 1986 with his pediatric rotation. Dr. McQueen was on call at Children’s when his twins were born and again two years later when his wife went into labor with their third son, Parker. Between ages 9 months and one year, Parker began missing some development milestones. After his first birthday he had his first seizure – a rare type of seizure called infantile spasms. Parker was brought to Children’s Hospital where he was diagnosed with primary development delay. Dr. McQueen estimates that Parker has been in Children’s around 20 times in the past 12 years. In April, Dr. McQueen recalls that, “We had the discussion that we had been cautioned, warned about for years – you need to put your son on a ventilator.” The McQueens went through the home ventilator class and Parker is now home. After experiencing Children’s as both a resident and a parent, Dr. McQueen says the excellence of care available is a comfort to him and his family - “For our family, Parker has not just become the center of our heart, our family, he is an encouragement to every single person that comes in contact with him. And they were able to lovingly and carefully guide us through that, and make us see there really is hope.” Sadly, Parker passed away on 3/10/2008. Dr. and Mrs. McQueen greatly appreciate the attention and love Parker received while in our care and credits the amount of time he spent on earth to the grace of God and the wonderful care received at Children’s Hospital, and are especially thankful for the home ventilator team.
