Andrew McElhiney
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Andrew was born at 32 weeks gestation on 8/3/01. He has a twin brother Patrick. The moment Andrew was born I knew he had problems other than
prematurity. He initially spent 12 weeks in the NICU at Children's Hospital Boston. He was so unique the Drs. couldn't figure out what he had or even what was causing his breathing problems. It was clear that he was obstructing. He was born with very small facial features including a tiny recessed chin and jaw as well as a small mouth and airway. Initially the thought of a tracheostomy broke my heart and I just couldn't do it so we tried a tongue lip adhesion which just wasn't enough. We tried jaw distraction surgery which helped quite a bit but still wasn't enough. In April 2001, at 8 months of age, Andrew aspirated and had a terrible pneumonia. We really felt we had done everything and Andrew was trached. Andrew has continued to be very unique. After having the trach Andrew became oxygen and ventilator dependent with no real explanation. He spent almost 3 months in the hospital following the trach due to infection after infection. He finally came home last July. It has been a long year in many ways but also a very good year. Andrew has made terrific progress. His airway has grown and we are hopeful that he will be decannulated within the next 6 mos. - 1 year. He is
currently off oxygen and on the ventilator only at night and we are weaning this. As you can see, he is the happiest little boy. He is lucky to have a twin brother Patrick, a 6 year old sister Beth and a 4 year old brother Justin. We are committed to helping Andrew to live life to the fullest. We take him everywhere with us...parks, beaches, soccer games, Sesame St. Place, etc. It has been a challenge with all of his equipment but it is manageable and it is so worthwhile. Nothing makes me happier then to see him on a swing or a see saw just like his siblings. One area that we have spent a lot of time recently is adapting toys for him using switches.
Andrew is diagnosed with Freeman Sheldon syndrome and Pierre Robin. He has low muscle tone, severe hearing loss, partial craniosynostosis, gtube and an immune deficiency.
Kerry McElhiney
Andrew's mom
