Chase was born 30 days premature. He was diagnosed with Hirschsprung Disease, genital abnormalities, dysmorphic facial features, microcephaly, patent ductus arteriosus, and pulmonic stenosis. He was in the NICU for 25 days. At 5 days he had a colostomy and at 10 days a PDA ligation. One week after he came home, he had to go back in the hospital for pyloric stenosis and have that corrected surgically. At 4 months old he had pull through surgery to close the ostomy and reconnect his colon. He was in the hospital for 10 days, came home for 12 hours and went back because of vomiting. He was in and out of the hospital for the next few months due to spasms. He had feeding problems due to gagging, but improved slowly but surely over the next several months. His development was slow and we hoped that was because of all the time he spent in the hospital. It seemed every time he would start to recover from one surgery, he ended up back in the hospital for another.

At 14 months he had surgery to bring down his testicles and was circumcised. He was just beginning to sit independently by then but that surgery set back his progress in that area. Again we attributed many of his delays to all the surgeries and nutrition. From early on his way of exploring things was by thumbing, he tapped on everything with his thumbs. His development always seemed to start and stop.  He would start to babble and then for no reason stop, he started to crawl at 21 months and started to cruise around furniture and pull himself up at 2. He never mimicked speech and still doesn’t seem to try. He started using a walker at 2 1/2 and took his first steps independently this past January, but walking seems to be hit and miss too, we know he can do it but he doesn’t seem overly interested in doing it. He still taps, but now with his wrists, and more aggressively, we wonder why they aren’t black and blue and why it doesn’t seem to bother him. He has always had the sweetest disposition (99% of the time) and seems to be very happy. He can entertain himself for hours. He has been in physical and occupational therapy since he was 2 with varying results. Chase was involved in Nevada ’s early intervention program until he was 3, then began to attend early intervention preschool through the school district. He loves to play with other children and has made real progress in social skills. He has always startled easily and has a real problem with noise, but he is getting better now that he is exposed to more.

Chase had his first seizure, a febrile seizure in April, of 2004 and his second one in January of 2005, which was more severe than the first and lasted about 45 minutes. He is now taking trileptol, and hasn’t had another since.

He started walking independently at about 4 years of age, though he walks a bit awkwardly. He still has no speech so we are working with PECS (picture exchange communication) with him and he seems to grasp the concept.

Written by: Dave & Deby Curry, Chase's Grandparents