My Bestest is Stronger than the Restest

My best friend recently made a trip up to my part of town, which of course is nice for me, however the circumstances in which she came were not so great.


Her 7 year old son has had some health problems and has had surgery in the past.


Brain surgery to be exact. He was 3.


I know, a 3 year old having brain surgery? Heart breaking.


Here's a little history.....in 2007 JD had a lot of ear issues so he had been going to the doctor which is how the doctors found something they thought was a brain tumor. After further investigation, they found out that it wasn't a tumor at all, it was actually JDs brain growing out of his skull. His skull hadn't closed all the way during development and his brain grew right through the hole in his skull into his ear which damaged some bone and nerves around his ear and caused other complications.


He had surgery to remove the brain tissue that was growing out of his skull and to repair the hole in his skull. His surgery was successful although the doctor had to remove his eardrum so he will never be able to hear out of that ear. There were complications with his spinal fluid leaking so the doctors had to put in a shunt to drain all the spinal fluid from his head to his stomach.











That was when he was three, he is now 7 and has been doing great! Until about a week ago when he started complaining that his neck was hurting. De tells the story in much more detail here. Basically he had some spinal fluid leaking which they think caused him to get bacterial menangitis!





Which can be deadly.


So he was life flighted up here in Salt Lake to Primary Children's Hospital. He was a bit of a mystery for the doctors for quite some time, they had several specialists trying to figure out exactly what was wrong and what had caused the problem. They determined that he will need to have surgery, the same surgery he had when he was 3.


JD is home now after the menigitas got better but he will be coming back up for surgery next month. I don't know how De does it! She seriously is a stronger person than I, you should really read about JD's experiences on her blog here.






Here is De and I at Primary Children's a couple weeks ago when JD was in the hospital. She has two other children, Jordan & Taylor, who as you can see, are adorable!!!









The following pictures are just hanging out at the hospital while JD was sleeping in his room.







I'm not sure who the dude is in the blue & red spandex, but it is NOT De's husband.





I repeat, NOT De's husband.








Who are these beautiful girls? These are De's sister's kids, Tamarah. I don't know why I didn't get a picture of Tamarah!











Next month, when they come up again for JDs surgery, I will be able to give you an update. This cute family is so strong!