Please support Team Duke as we WALK to End Hydrocephalus! 

​Duke Calloway is our miracle in many aspects & a hydro miracle too! Being born 13 weeks early comes with lots of challenges, & a lot of reasons for celebrating. One of the biggest for us is at 5 years old, he has required ZERO brain surgeries and has not been diagnosed with any of the prognoses or disabilities that we were told he would have due to his hydrocephalus & brain injuries. But this isn't a guarantee for life...and a shunt is NOT a cure! Imagine knowing that your child's first &/or next brain surgery lurks around the corner. No one should have to live like this.

What is HYDROCEPHALUS? It is a life altering, life threatening condition, caused by an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. In Duke’s case, because of his extreme prematurity, the trauma/injury his brain experienced when adjusting to the world outside of the womb caused his brain to hemorrhage (on both sides we’d find out when he was 2 weeks old) & the blood was pooling & clotting in pathways that it shouldn’t. Because of this, his brain also was not allowing normal absorption of cerebrospinal fluid (“CSF”) since it typically travels through channels in the brain that the blood was blocking the way to. Ultimately, all these details led to the grueling hours/days/weeks/months/years spent wondering when the pressure on his brain would be too much & he'd need brain surgery. Not IF, but WHEN. That's a hard thing to grasp, let that sink in.

For Duke, this diagnosis also meant he wasn’t able to grow his brain to its capacity because of that pressure the extra fluid was fighting against. He has/will have brain loss that will never regenerate or "catch up". We don’t know how that will affect him in the future & there is not even enough science to provide a best guess. 

The surgery to relieve the pressure & correct the fluid buildup requires placing a shunt into the brain that opens a pathway for the CSF to flow through. There are a few different types of shunts, but one thing that remains consistent between them all is the fact that they have the HIGHEST failure rate of ALL implanted medical devices. Meaning with a 50% fail rate in children, most kids will have at least 2 brain surgeries to correct these devices in their first 2 years alive. Most Hydro Warriors, as we affectionally label this bunch, have had more brain surgeries than they've had birthdays!

I am active in our Hydro Community & HA's WALK To END Hydrocephalus because at any point, Duke could need urgent brain surgery to have a shunt placed & we NEED another option besides brain surgery for kids (& their parents) like him & the many people of all ages who can develop hydrocephalus (“hydro”) for a myriad of reasons. This is WHY I WALK and also why I need your support. Please donate to help us reach our goal! Also anyone local we would love to have you join us on our WALK at Double Tree Ranch Park on Saturday afternoon, Nov 9th!

Thank you!