Meet Easton

I had the absolute pleasure of providing this amazing family with a lifestyle session. Last Thanksgiving, as a way of giving thanks to my clients, I offered to give away a free session to a family that was deserving of a photography session. I received quite a few nominations and I actually ended up giving away three sessions total because I read these different circumstances that these families were going through, and, simply-my heart's too big. I couldn't say no to them. 

Meet Easton.

This little guy was a total doll :) Here are some images that I just adored that I'd love to share with you to get you to also know Easton. He's one miraculous little spirit. I asked his dad to write a little piece to explain his story. Here's the story...grab a tissue.

Our son Easton was born July 11, 2011, and we could not be more blessed with a smart, determined and beautiful child.  While Kristin had the perfect pregnancy, all vitals and measurements were where they should be, it all came down to the last half an hour of being pregnant. 

When we found out Kristin was pregnant, we were so happy, excited and nervous as most people are.  We had stopped trying to stop trying to have a baby, so it was not so much a surprise when she was pregnant.  Of course my beautiful bride bought all the books and tried to educate herself on “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” but you never expect the unexpected.

While Kristin had a near perfect pregnancy with her and Easton’s health being perfect the entire time, the entire process was flipped upside down when she was 5cm dilated. Easton’s heart rate fell off the charts, and no one knows why.  

After an emergency c-section, and what seemed like countless minutes of nurses and doctors trying to resuscitate what appeared to me like a dead baby, they said they were able to stabilize him...to a point.  They were able to stabilize his heart rate, but he continued to have seizures, and little to no brain activity.  His APGAR scores were 0 and 1’s across the board. While we sat there with hopeless doctors that had no idea what to do, we waiting for a team to be airlifted from Rockford Memorial Hospital, so they can then transfer our baby to a hospital that could help with this situation.The morning Easton was born, a very damaging storm ripped through the county.  Causing power outages everywhere, down trees, wind and hail damage and even flooding in some areas.  Specifically, this storm reached it peak while Easton was being removed surgically from my wife. The storm caused complications, like how our highly educated OBGYN could not figure out how to get out of her garage when there was no power.  The storm was in a way of things to come.  Destruction, dark days, rebuilding and sunshine.

While the storm was here, we had to wait it out, and find out what was left when the skies cleared.  Kristin and Easton were both transferred to Rockford, where Easton was placed on a cooling mattress. Therapeutic hypothermia, also known as protective hypothermia, is a medical treatment that lowers a patient's body temperature in order to help reduce the risk of the ischemic injury to tissue following a period of insufficient blood flow.

After 4 days of being on the cooling mattress, and the touch of his body being cold as ice, they started to slowly warm his body up to normal body temperature.  He was no longer having physical or clinical seizures.  During this entire process, the nurses and doctors has to, almost continuously, suction out any saliva or fluids from his nose and mouth, because he was not swallowing at all. During this time, he was being fed through his umbilical cord, then through a nasal cannula, a PICC was then inserted to his head to provide nutrients into the bloodstream, and then before we brought him home he underwent surgery to install a G-Tube.

An entire week went by, with countless hours standing by his bedside, and watching the monitors, hoping for a small sign of life, or that he was going to wake from his coma. While I was writing to family and friends updating them on the status of Easton, my wife walks up behind me and asks me “Do you want to hold your son?”  I could not believe it, we have been standing next to him, holding his hands, feet and head, but never got to hold him.  We were at the point where his life was not so fragile anymore and we finally got to hold him.  The first thing I did was take a nap with him on my chest.  Something I had waited for far too long. The following day he was taken off the respirator and CPAP machine completely because he was doing it on his own, yet still not awake.

Finally on the 6th day, this wonderful boy opened his eyes and started ‘talking’ to us.  He was totally out of it, but he was awake!  He had his eyes open and was making noises!  Things started to look up at this point.  We thought we had lost him, but he was telling us he was not going anywhere.

There was still so much left that we didn’t even know we didn’t know… 

Easton still was not taking any milk orally, and really had a very small to nonexistent suck reflex.  While he continued to recover the entire month he was in the hospital, we had to make a decision to have the G-tube installed, or leave him at the hospital until he learned how to eat.  Sounds crazy right?  Well, we were lead to believe that they could get him to eat quickly, but they never really said a time frame.  Kristin and I made the decision to have the tube installed, and we would work with him to get him to eat.  While we (including our families) work with Easton daily to get him to eat, he is now 2.5 years old and still requires the feeding tube.  While it seemed like an option at the time to keep him in the hospital until the eating problem was resolved, we really had no idea what we were really to expect.  Thank goodness we made the decision to bring him home.

Easton continues to prove the nurses and doctors wrong.  Before he was transferred to Rockford, I was told to consider looking into a ‘home for him’, and to say goodbye.  Guess what? We are not giving up on him, and never did.  I would be a liar if I did not have my doubts in the beginning, but those are mere thoughts now.  
Easton was home for about 2-3 weeks, and we started to get him into therapy.  The therapy included, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, and Developmental Therapy.  I never knew that a baby could use so much therapy.  I thought it was a lot, but it was the best thing we ever did.  

Easton now continues to get the therapy in-home, but now also has the Center For Independence as additional therapy.  We were introduced to ‘the center’ by our primary care physician, and we were unsure.  The center does a type of therapy called Conductive Education, and it has proven itself to be the most valuable therapy we have him in to date.  While all the therapy, and information is priceless, we have seen the most improvement in Easton in all aspects since he has been enrolled in the center.

While they teach him to do what we most consider to be simple things, like how to tie your shoe, that is what they teach him, but it is different than just tying your shoe.  They will teach him how to tie his shoes in a manner that works for him, and his physical restrictions.

Easton has very high muscle tone in his arms, and had it in his legs in the early stages, but thankfully we were able to break the tone in his legs with therapy.  The tone in his arms causes his arms to typically be in a straightened position and twisted outwards.  This used a be a big problem, and scary because his muscles were so tight, that while his bones were still developing, we were afraid this would cause distortion to the bones, that was not reversible.

Since Easton has been going to the center, we can tell him “Easton, fix your arm.” and he places his arm in the ‘correct’ position because he was taught the correct position to keep his posture.  The center is also the place where he took his first unassisted steps in a gait trainer. This is where Eason learned how to sit at a table, while holding on to a bar to help with balance and placement. This is the place that is teaching him how to crawl, how to feed himself, how to use the potty, how to communicate and anything else you could possibly think of.

While therapist do their best to help their patient, the most effective method is to continue doing what they, or you have learned in therapy.  We are so thankful that Kristin’s mom is able to take him, twice weekly to the center along with the other 4-5 therapy sessions he has a week, now including swimming.  Yes you did the math right, 2 at the center, and an additional 4-5 therapy sessions a week.

The center has continued to provide results, and support through their conductive education program.  They have been able to provide equipment to us, that we would not be able to afford whatsoever. The therapist and board members of this organization are extremely personable, and truly want to help.  You can tell each one of them are passionate about helping these children lead as ‘normal’ and independent life as they can.  I personally have seen them with tears of joy in their eyes, as Easton takes his first steps in a gait trainer, and the love they have for my son while they hold him, talk to him, calm him lovingly when he is upset, and take the time to understand him, yet push him to his potential.  As a newer father, I never understood what this love was, until I had my own son to love.  The love these wonderful people have for Easton is so much like the love I have for him, it is truly a beautiful sight.  We will never be able to thank the center and our families for the work and results they have helped Easton provide.

From our family, and our hearts, we thank you for reading our story, and we hope you can find this story inspirational, because Easton has inspired me to be a better person, and the best dad I can ever be.

 
Please show your support for Easton by visiting the Facebook page, Every Breath is a Second Chance-Easton Green.  This little man is such a miracle. Thank you for stopping by to read his story and see the photographs I've had the honor of giving this deserving family. I look forward to photographing Easton in the future! High five little buddy.