FORT WORTH — He went from being a virtual orphan — a child facing a future in which even breathing would be excruciating — to a happy baby who is about to (as his surgeon puts it) begin his life.
Baby Don was born just before Christmas without a chin. His mother relinquished her parental rights.
"Don was a little baby with no jaw, for whom every breath was a struggle," explained Dr. Sacha Obaid, the baby's surgeon.
On Christmas Eve, Dr. Obaid performed surgery to break Baby Don's jaw bone and reshape it with the help of tiny screws.
Without the operation, Don's life wouldn't have been much of a life at all. "He would be leaving the hospital today with a hole in his neck, with a tube in his stomach to eat, he would not be able to speak; he wouldn't be able to speak for years," Dr. Obaid said.
Now, two months later, Don is leaving Cook Children's Medical Center. He's no longer a struggling infant, but a handsome, growing, glowing baby.
"You just wouldn't even believe it was the same baby," said his foster mom, Mary. It will be her job to turn his tiny screws each day.
"He's very happy, he smiles at everybody that comes by his crib," Mary said.
In another six weeks, the screws will come out. Mary will say goodbye, and Don will officially become Aiden.
Aiden is the name chosen by his new adoptive mother, father, and big sister, a family found through Fort Worth's Gladney Center for Adoption.
"You can tell he's a baby that's loved," said Dr. Obaid.
And, he says, even for a tiny baby, that knowledge is enough to inspire him to fight through the pain and embrace another day.
E-mail chawes@wfaa.com
