Hello, My name is Benjamin Carson Mantheiy. I am two years old. My journey with Hydrocephalus started at birth. I have an older brother named Drake that also has Hydrocephalus. Drake has endured a lot in his early life, so with me they kept a close eye.

Hydrocephalus came into my life one week before my first birthday. I was diagnosed with Aqueductal Stenosis. I woke up screaming in intense pain. My head felt like it was going to explode. My mom rushed me to Penn State Hershey Medical Center. I was put into a trauma bay. They rushed to get Dr. Dias, a Pediatric Neurosurgeon to see me. I fell a sleep while I was there and it was really hard for me to wake up. My mom and Nan was right by my side.

My mom called Daddy right away, because they wanted to rush me into surgery. My daddy got there in to time. They decided to wait one day to make sure my cold subsided. The next morning Dr. Dias operated on me and put in a Accu-Drain and an EVD. The next morning when I woke up, the pain was still there and very intense. They checked my ICP and it was in the 30's. Every 24 hours they had to LP me. On Mother's Day my ICP peeked to it's worse 56.

That night I was in the most intense pain after my LP. My mom stood up and after 14 days said that is it we need a shunt. At two in the morning, my attending Dr. Mark Iantosca came into my rescue and saved me from going through anymore pain. I appreciate everything everyone did in preventing me to have a shunt but it was time to end some of the pain. The next day Dr. I as I like to call him came into see me at 8:00 AM.

I remember my mom saying did you get any sleep? He told me that day " Don't worry buddy the pain is over, as he rubbed my face." He was my Hero that day!