I have a 5 year old son named Taylon Jhamir Johnson. My son was due on January of 2007, but because of my stressing, my son was born at 29 weeks. At birth, he was diagnosed with fetal distress. He had to have a blood transfusion, he had seizures, he had to be put in an incubator, and he was fed with a feeding tube. A day or so after his birth, his doctors informed me that he could possible have hydrocephalus because he had excess fluid on his brain and that 2 out of his 4 ventricles were swollen. A couple days after, my son’s head began to expand and it was confirmed that he indeed had hydrocephalus. He was then transferred to the nearest Children’s Hospital were he had surgery to have a temporary shunt put in. After two months of being in the hospital, my son was finally released. In March of 2007, I noticed that Taylon’s eyes were downward and his head was swollen.

I immediately rushed him to the Birmingham, Al Children’s Hospital where he had surgery to get a more permanent shunt put in. What was supposed to be a one day surgery, turned into my son having to stay in the hospital for almost a month. During that stay, he had 3 surgeries. The first two surgeries were unsuccessful, but the third was a success. In October of 2011, a few days before his 4th birthday, Taylon was complaining about having headaches, after being rushed to the hospital, it was confirmed that Taylon’s shunt was not working properly, and Taylon had to have another shunt revision that was successful on the first try. My son has vision problems but he is very intelligent for his age. Taylon is outgoing and very independent. Taylon is very friendly. Being diagnosed with hydrocephalus is a scary thing. I often wish that hydrocephalus could be cured and that he never had to endure any pain again.