Struggles

It seems like Gage has had an uphill battle since conception. Struggling to get his growing body to match his energized spirit. Gage has been dealt some rough cards in his four years of life thus far. The two brain tumors were the huge cherries on top of years of numerous therapies and treatments.

What you may not know is: Gage was diagnosed with torticollis at age one. His neck muscles on right side of his body were weaker and stiff, making Gage compensate by tilting his head. Since this diagnosis, Gage has been to physical therapists, worn (and slyly figured his way out of) three neck collars for hours and hours throughout the day, had botox injections to loosen his muscles and more invasively, had his neck muscles clipped. Sadly, he has been no stranger to doctors, surgeries and recovery, though nothing could have prepared him for brain surgery.

It is apparent now that the torticollis diagnosis was incorrect and his symptoms were caused by the developing tumor in his brain.  The original diagnosis for torticollis came after x-rays, C-scan and other tests were done in a narrow search focusing solely on the neck.  At the time, Troy and Gretchen pleaded with the doctors to expand their search but were assured that expanding the tests further up into the head/brain were unnecessary.  Without a doctors orders, doing these tests would have been costly and outside the scope of their insurance.  Troy and Gretchen surrendered their instincts and intuition to the knowledge of their doctors and finally, after years of frustration, the tumor grew large enough to present itself with symptoms that called for more expansive tests.  Our little superhero has been poked, prodded, scanned, examined, stretched, annoyed, injured and finally blessed by the science of modern medicine.  We are prayerful that Gage can continue the healing process and that his physical and occupational therapy progress is rapid and his days of doctors are numbered.