Jasper's Story - Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH)

Jasper was born July 13th 2017. We didn’t know about his diagnosis until he was 1 month old. He was in the NICU after he was born but the doctors had no idea what was wrong with him. Jasper was on oxygen and a feeding tube. After 4 weeks he was finally strong enough and eating well enough to come home.

About a week after we came home, he stopped eating almost completely. I brought him to his pediatrician because I thought he was getting a cold. His nurse practitioner ( who we are so grateful for) noticed he was retracting with each breath. She wanted us to have a chest X-ray done the next day. I brought Jasper to the clinic for the X-ray and we headed home as soon as it was over, I didn’t think anything of it. We didn’t even make it half way when the doctors office called me. I immediately knew something was wrong.

We get to the office and I was in shock. How could my baby be diagnosed with something so rare and so life threatening? Why was this happening to the baby we wanted for so long? No one could answer my questions at the time. His pediatrician had only seen a handful of CDH cases. I was told to get him to the hospital and the next morning we’d be transferred to a bigger hospital.

At our local hospital, Jasper started passing blood and his doctors decided he needed to get to the bigger hospital as soon as possible. We were taken by ambulance to Shreveport, La. that next morning Jasper underwent his repair surgery, it lasted about 2 hours. His stomach, spleen, and intestines were pushed in his chest causing pressure in his lungs. The surgery was a success! He only needed the ventilator during surgery! He came to his room only needing an NG tube. He stayed in Shreveport for 1 week. Jasper is 2 years old now and in his short life, he’s had 2 surgeries and multiple hospital stays. He’s been through so much but he is the strongest little boy I know.