MACIR Bradley
Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men. - Psalms 66:5 NKJV
We praise the Lord for what He has done, and look forward to continuing to see His hand on Ruth! Ruth was diagnosed with severe hydrocephalus and ventricular rupture before birth, and we were told to expect her to be moderately to severely developmentally delayed. She was not expected to breathe, eat, walk, or communicate on her own.
At birth, with a full NICU team in the delivery room who thought they would have to get a breathing tube in and get her on life support, Ruth surprised everyone by crying right away and needing no support! Overall, Ruth required a 17 day NICU stay, had VP shunt placement (brain) surgery at 3 days old, shunt revision (brain) surgery at 3 months, and has had 2 eye muscle surgeries to attempt to correct eye misalignment. Ruth also has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, cortical vision impairment, & wears glasses and custom foot orthotics full time.
Ruth has received physical therapy for 6 years and occupational therapy for 5 years. Ruth has needed to restart speech therapy this past year, to supplement the feeding therapy work her occupational therapist has been doing because of reverse swallowing. She is progressing at her own pace with her therapy and has far exceeded the expectations we were given when she was first diagnosed before birth.
Please join our team and WALK with us to end hydrocephalus. This event is very dear to our hearts as we are walking on behalf of those who are living with hydrocephalus and the constant fear that another brain surgery is around the corner. As you may know, hydrocephalus is a life-altering, life-threatening condition, caused by an abnormal accumulation of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), resulting in pressure on the brain. The most common treatment for this condition is brain surgery to implant a medical device called a shunt. Sadly, a shunt is not a cure, as device failures are very common and lead to multiple brain surgeries over a patient’s lifetime, in some cases 100 or more. This is unacceptable and this is WHY WE WALK.
Join our team in person, join virtually and donate to help us reach our goal. Your donation is greatly appreciated and will go far in helping us find a cure and improve the lives of people living with hydrocephalus.
Thank you!