Many people thought that I was too small to survive, but my mommy refused to give up on me.  She is always telling me that people are born with a purpose, and she saw my purpose.

I spent four months in the Neonatal ICU at T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital at Erlanger. Upon release, I was a whopping four pounds, but I was going home.

I became a patient of the Boehm Birth Defects Cener, because I had a grade 3 bleed on the brain at birth and I had a risk for developing hydrocephalus.  At the age of three, I was diagnosed with hydrocephalus at a routine checkup during the Boehm Center's clinic.

I am currently 11 years old and have had up to 10 surgeries on my shunt. A shunt is a type of pump that is placed in the brain to remove excess brain fluid. Without the pump, the ventricles in my brain would swell until they burst, resulting in instant death. On one occasion, I had two shunts replaced and repaired within one week, and on another occasion, I had three shunts replaced and repaired within three days.

Usually problems with my shunt happen at any given moment and without warnings, even the usual symptoms don't always apply. During this trying time, we have come to rely on the staff at the Boehm Center to assist us with food and gas vouchers, companionship and prayer. They have helped my mommy with direction concerning my health care and have coordinated care between other medical doctors. Even when my mommy panics over some health concern, she always turns to the staff at the Boehm Center for advice.