Welcome to, Living Healthy Chicago.
I'm Jane Monzures.
You know health challenges impact all of us
and they can be scary especially when it comes to our kids.
So that's why feeling confident,
and a good health-care team
can help parents get their little ones
back on the road to health.
So let's meet a little boy who is now thriving
after getting help from a birth defect.
Like most little boys, Allen Duda,
loves nothing more than exploring the world around him.
- He loves baseball, he loves to be outside,
anything outdoors he's there.
He loves swimming, he loves books,
- Truck. - Truck.
He loves to talk, he's very loud and boisterous.
- [Jane] These moments of normal childhood
are especially precious to Allen's mom, Darcy,
who says it's been a long journey
to get where they are today.
- I had an absolutely normal pregnancy,
no issues, complications, carried him to full term.
- [Jane] But when Allen was around six months of age
his doctors became concerned
about the development of his skull.
- His sixth month appointment
was when they started to notice
that his head was growing a little bit oblong,
long and narrow, instead of more round
like a normal baby would.
The news that we actually got
was they thought he had craniosynostosis.
- Hi guys. - Hi.
- [Robert] How are you doing? - Good how are you.
- Craniosynostosis is a condition that occurs
when the bones in our skull grow or fuse together too soon.
When they close too soon
it causes a characteristic head shape,
usually causes a ridge over that fused suture
and the reason that's important
is because it can restrict brain growth
and cause developmental delays in the future.
Okay, so this is a model of a skull
and we have different sutures in the skull,
coronal sutures in the front, saggital suture in the middle.
- It's just heartbreaking>
I had no idea what this condition was.
- It's typically a random genetic mutation that occurs.
Typically we like to treat these children
before they turn one.
We recommend repair of the craniosynostosis
and that is done with surgery.
And the purpose of the surgery is to remove
that diseased suture and expand the skull,
or the cranial ball, to allow normal brain growth to occur.
- Finding out that your son has craniosynostosis,
and is going to need surgery,
is terrifying especially being a first-time mom,
he's so little, they're working so close to the brain.
- [Jane] Allen was nine months old
when his surgery was performed.
- He did wonderfully and a couple days after surgery
when he was still in the hospital
he was wanting to play.
- He did amazing.
And I would say, probably by day two or three,
he was laughing, smiling.
- [Allen] Squealing.
- He's just a normal kid.
You would have never thought
that he had a major surgery on his head.
- [Jane] Allen's progress continued from there.
And while he still has regular check-ins with his doctors
he's back to having fun and being a happy little boy.
- I would expect him longterm to be a normal child
and then a normal adult and do all of the normal things
that we all do.
- [Jame] Both Dr. Kellogg and Darcy
hope Allen's story will help raise awareness
and educate other parents.
- It's very important for parents
to pay attention to their child's head shape and growth
and to advocate for them
if they feel that something is wrong.
If they have a question about their child's head shape
that they ask their pediatrician about it
and it's really important to make that distinction
and take the appropriate action if it's there.
- If your child's head isn't growing normally
know that it's out there.
I feel absolutely thankful
that he is developing
along with all of his other friends
and that he is just like any other kid.