Gabriel's Life

When a loved one has hydrocephalus–or any other condition–the personal toll and sacrifice needed to adjust can impact relatives as well, but one story of a British teenager shows compassion and determination easily go hand-in-hand. In a story by Sibba Matta, 17-year-old Jessica Sisley demonstrates such a pairing and inspires the belief that one can have it all: tenderness for ill family members and pursuit of academic dreams. Young Sisley heads to the University of York for history and political”

Last month, the California-based Hydrocephalus Association held its 11th Annual Hydrocephalus Conference, with presentations on pregnancy and hydrocephalus, shunt problems and varieties, and more. One exciting presentation–featured recently on the association’s website–highlighted the peculiar difficulties adolescent patients face as they make the already-awkward transition from childhood to adulthood. Given from a medical expert’s perspective, the presentation focuses on the large amount of awareness and maturity a hydrocephalitic teen must foster in order to make it through the difficult changes ahead.”

“I don’t want to see special needs kids falling through the cracks. They don’t belong in the justice of the peace courts.” So said Stephen Walker, Justice of the Peace in San Antonio, Tex. Referring to an unusual case in which a school district is taking the family of a pediatric hydrocephalus patient to court for missing too many days of school, Justice Walker said school officials are out of line and not “doing what is right for the child.””

A South Dakota high school student with hydrocephalus overcame hydrocephalus, adolescence and untold challenges as she walked to receive her diploma this past week. Born over three months premature, now 18-year-old Regan Scott joined more than 450 other students when she officially graduated from Central High School in Rapid City, South Dakota after years of “about 40 surgeries, nearly two years’ worth of time spent in hospitals and numerous physical limitations,” as reported in the Rapid City Journal. “She has”

Born four months premature, Tulsa resident Kendra Dyer spent the next five months in the neonatal intensive care unit after doctors diagnosed the tiny baby with hydrocephalus and treated her with multiple shunts. Now eight years old, Dyer and her family reflected on the particularly thorny struggles they faced after their insurance company dropped their coverage following Dyer’s complicated birth. “”She had accumulated so much of a bill and they just dropped us. It’s a horrible feeling,” Kendra’s mother, Natia”

In a recent story by the British newspaper The News Letter, a family details the unique struggles they faced in the chaotic disarray surrounding millions of airline passengers whose flights were delayed due to persistent volcano ash from Eyjafjallajoekull in Iceland. The April 15 eruption prevented many Western European airlines from conducting business as usual, and some of the affected traveler include the McCombe family from the Ireland province of Ulster whose six-year-old daughter–a patient of hydrocephalus–was scheduled for a”

Despite the United States Congress and President Barack Obama enacting historic health care legislation this week, many hurdles await patients of all sorts of medical afflictions. With individual states still struggling to maintain balanced budgets in a rough economy, one congenital hydrocephalus patient in California represents a living warning to politicians looking to scrap funding in programs that touch every aspect of citizens’ lives. Priscilla Heredia–a 13-year-old featured in Jessica Pauline Ogilvie’s recent story in the Jewish Journal–lives with cerebral”

Adapting everyday activities and aspirations can pose challenges to parents of rambunctious children with hydrocephalus. But, as reported in the Columbian Missourian, sports is an activity that every child should and can be able to enjoy, regardless of medical conditions. (Photo found on the Columbia Missourian Web site, along with a slideshow and full story, here.) The story features the upbeat and successful Shawna Fitzpatrick, who has lived with hydrocephalus and played sports with the condition for a while. For”

The toll taken on the Haitian population after its tragic earthquake last month has been catastrophic. With fatality numbers over 200,000, it would be hard to believe anyone on the globe has avoided news of the event. While many in the international community donate unprecedented amounts of financial and material donations, others are providing the much-needed medical support Haiti has suffered so long without. USA Today recently updated a story of an 11-month-old with a severe case of child hydrocephalus.”

Aside from the unanswered questions, misdiagnoses, and sudden worsening of conditions, patients and families who deal with hydrocephalus face many obstacles in accessing the proper care and treatment. No more so is this more apparent than when it comes to money. While most everyone can face financial hardships during a medical emergency, a recent case in the United Kingdom shows the unique financial difficulties that come with the constant care of hydrocephalus patients. According to the Rutland and Stamford Mercury”