13 Months, 12 Pounds and Growing Strong!
By: Nate Potter
Updated: February 6, 2012
The latest edition of the local magazine Mirror Moms is on stands now!!
It features the touching story of some local families, with children who have been dealing with some very serious medical conditions that forced them to take their kids to the Childrens Hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment.
We sat down with a 1 year old from Altoona and his family for a closer look at their experience.
Case McNulty was born premature, with some severe medical issues.
His mom Liz remembers the day, before he was born, when doctors delivered the news. "All of his limbs, they call them long bones, were all drastically short. They saw that his heart had complications. His kidney was covered in cysts, and they call it displastic, so misplaced. His other kidney looked like it had issues, so there was talk that both of his kidneys weren't functioning."
The experts assumed he had some sort of syndrome but did not pinpoint a cause. Although concerned for their boy, Liz says her husband dan put it all into perspective.
"When we walked out of the doctor's office that day, dan looked at me and he said 'you know liz, I've always been excited about our babies but I'm even more excited about this baby because we are gonna learn through him. And he's gonna teach others.' And that's when I realized that this is gonna be different. "
Although they focused on the positive, they would spend countless days in Pittsburgh. Case underwent several surgeries and numerous tests.
The Ronald McDonald house became their home, away from home.
"I wanted to be with him, so we got a Ronald McDonald room. We would go to the hospital all day, and I would get rest, well-needed rest, because sleeping in the NICU was impossible."
Liz says it also gave her a support system of people, who knew what she was going through, because they were going through something similar at the same time.
A year later, the family still takes Case to Pittsburgh for appointments, and he is making progress.
"Right now our biggest challenge is eating (baby noises) For some reason since birth feeding him has been a struggle, it's always been something from pumping and storing to fortalizing. "
He has a feeding tube in his stomach, but he can also eat on his own.
Case weight 12 pounds.
These days they take nothing for granted, celebrating every move case makes.
"He can walk holding onto the coffee table, he can walk from the coffee table, and he can grab onto the couch. He shoots on his bum with his leg and foot."
Case does it his way! And his mom says her little boy's can-do attitude is what inspired her to share his story.
Dawn interviewed Liz live on Monday. You can watch that interview here: http://wearecentralpa.com/fulltext?nxd_id=342992
It features the touching story of some local families, with children who have been dealing with some very serious medical conditions that forced them to take their kids to the Childrens Hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment.
We sat down with a 1 year old from Altoona and his family for a closer look at their experience.
Case McNulty was born premature, with some severe medical issues.
His mom Liz remembers the day, before he was born, when doctors delivered the news. "All of his limbs, they call them long bones, were all drastically short. They saw that his heart had complications. His kidney was covered in cysts, and they call it displastic, so misplaced. His other kidney looked like it had issues, so there was talk that both of his kidneys weren't functioning."
The experts assumed he had some sort of syndrome but did not pinpoint a cause. Although concerned for their boy, Liz says her husband dan put it all into perspective.
"When we walked out of the doctor's office that day, dan looked at me and he said 'you know liz, I've always been excited about our babies but I'm even more excited about this baby because we are gonna learn through him. And he's gonna teach others.' And that's when I realized that this is gonna be different. "
Although they focused on the positive, they would spend countless days in Pittsburgh. Case underwent several surgeries and numerous tests.
The Ronald McDonald house became their home, away from home.
"I wanted to be with him, so we got a Ronald McDonald room. We would go to the hospital all day, and I would get rest, well-needed rest, because sleeping in the NICU was impossible."
Liz says it also gave her a support system of people, who knew what she was going through, because they were going through something similar at the same time.
A year later, the family still takes Case to Pittsburgh for appointments, and he is making progress.
"Right now our biggest challenge is eating (baby noises) For some reason since birth feeding him has been a struggle, it's always been something from pumping and storing to fortalizing. "
He has a feeding tube in his stomach, but he can also eat on his own.
Case weight 12 pounds.
These days they take nothing for granted, celebrating every move case makes.
"He can walk holding onto the coffee table, he can walk from the coffee table, and he can grab onto the couch. He shoots on his bum with his leg and foot."
Case does it his way! And his mom says her little boy's can-do attitude is what inspired her to share his story.
Dawn interviewed Liz live on Monday. You can watch that interview here: http://wearecentralpa.com/fulltext?nxd_id=342992
