Aden Oestreich

When Aden was born 8 yrs ago he was born with a few things different than most babies. First of all he had a diaphragmatic hernia- which is a hole in his diaphragm allowing his bowels up into his chest cavity. This was repaired with a major surgery when he was about 1 week old. He then spent his first couple months of life in the NICU in Children's hospital in Minneapolis and then our very own Sanford Children's hospital. 
When Aden was two years old it was time to for another major surgery....He has congenital scoliosis- which is extra vertebra throughout his spine causing it to be shaped like a S - So Dr. Koop from Gillette Children's hospital decided to do a triple spine fusion using one of Adens extra ribs he had as the bone graph. Aden was in an upper body brace for many months after this surgery but of course handled it like an amazing trooper!
He has had a few smaller surgeries after those two major one's but nothing like this next one we are preparing for. 
As most of you know we are down in Norfolk Virginia to have the one of the best doctors Dr. Frazier Frantz in Children's hospital of the King's Daughters, who specializes in chest reconstruction operate and re-build Aden's chest. This surgery is necessary at this time because of the way Aden's chest has grown and developed over the 8 yrs of his life. His sternum and ribs are no longer protecting his heart, as well as, putting a lot of pressure on his heart and lungs. They will be cutting and re-piecing together all of his ribs as well as his sternum. They will hold everything in place a metal plate and screws....So he will indeed be our very own superhero of Ironman😊 
This is going to be a very painful surgery with an even more painful recovery. Aden will not be able to go back to school until the end of March due to pain management. So, as we head into this next adventure this week with Aden we want to thank each and every one of our family members and friends who have been here for us. Your loving support, words of encouragement, donations, planning special care packages......etc......the list goes on and on.....we are so very thankful and will forever be grateful to all of you. This has been a very stressful week building up to this surgery for many reasons and I know we would not be handling it as well as we are without all of you in our lives. 
Please keep Aden in your prayers as we count down the days and hours until his surgery. I will post updates as often as I can.