Bio

Carter was born on March 27, 2009. We were surprised to learn that he had a cleft lip/palate and was missing his right outer ear. Our little guy was whisked away to the NICU with breathing difficulties. A few days later he was transferred to the children's hospital which is one hour away. He spent the next 10 weeks there. During that time he was diagnosed with a Chromosomal disorder which consists of a small deletion on his number 10 Chromosomes with a duplication of a piece of number 2 attached to them. He also battled Endocarditis and Spinal Meningitis. There were many times when we thought that we might lose our precious little angel, but he shocked the world and fought his way through it. Because of his Chromosomal abnormality, Carter has several other birth defects which include facial paralysis on the right side, and a bilateral fused Kidney. His heart is also built a little different giving him the potential for Pulmonary Hypertension. It's possible that he does not have a gall bladder. Carter has some airway issues which cause him to need continuous Oxygen at home. His vision is fine although the right eye doesn't track correctly. He has no hearing on the right side and a mild/moderate hearing loss on the left. Carter had a G Tube placed during his stay in the NICU, but we only use it at night now. So far he has had two additional hospital stays... one for a Heart Cath (9 days), and a surgery to repair his cleft lip, ear tube insertion, and prosthetic hard palate (5 days). His next surgery will include a complete soft palate repair, ear tube insertion, eyelid weight placement, and whatever else we can fit in. We plan to take on that battle next Summer. This blog is about Carter and our family as we move along on this journey with him. We feel blessed to have Carter in our lives and hope that by sharing his story, we can shine his little light throughout the world.