Ryder Stanton Ryder’s Journey

Ryder is my beautiful little boy, who is soon to be 11 in August. Ryder was diagnosed with Hydrencephaly resulting in hydrocephalus when I was just 5 months pregnant, I was told to abort right away as they told me he would never survive. I chose against this as I did not believe a word they were telling me. With my parents love and support I was able to carry Ryder to full term. I was told Ryder would never survive after being born, so i prepared for the worse, with no expectations. I had a C-section on August 21st, at 10:36 pm my little brown hair brown eyed miracle was born. He came out screaming and crying and everyone couldn’t believe their eyes. I had no idea what to think at this point, I knew they’d be taking him to the Stollery and I was not going to be able to hold him for the very first time, or even tell him how much I loved him already.  To my surprise once I got back Into my room, Ryder was rolled in right behind me. No tubes, no monitors NOTHING. They handed him to me and said he is hungry and sure enough this little soldier was eating on his own. From this second on I knew how strong and resilient my baby was, I knew our adventure was about to begin. The next morning we transported Ryder to the Stollery.  He was taken to the NICU, where he only spent 3 days and they said he was doing so amazing that he could be transferred to a normal floor. At two weeks old Ryder had his first surgery , they inserted a VP shunt in his head to drain all the excess fluids by a tube into his belly. He was so strong, he was such a fighter. Doctors couldn’t believe how well he was doing. But of course I was told he would not survive, and to expect the worse and he wouldn’t make it to the age of One. As he got older, we received  constant bad news,  one thing after another. Ryder was unable to eat on his own anymore so we had a G-tube inserted, then he had another surgery not long after to get a fundoplication which is a stich at the top of esophagus to prevent reflux and throwing up. He was then diagnosed with Cerebeal Palsy, Epilepsy, and coexistent bilateral optical nerve dysplasia (blind), obstructive sleep apnea and intestinal dysmotility. The older he got the more his lungs started to deteriorate, he required more and more oxygen and he is now on cpap 24/7 and 10-15 litres of  oxygen.. He is continuously deep suctioned, and struggles daily with his breathing. Ryder has gone through a life of ups and downs, countless surgeries, thousands of doctors appointments, half his life has been spent in the hospital. But the other half , I strived to give him the best life possible, it became my mission to show my little baby boy a life of no limitations. Everything I did I made sure he could experience as well. And this was all possible thanks to my amazing parents, family and friends. I knew from the very beginning how hard this was going to be but I also knew he deserved anything and everything. He persevered and so would I through some of the most difficult times. These past three years have been very rough, Ryder is becoming weaker and his body isn’t fighting as hard as it did in the past. Ryder is my pride, my joy, my sunshine, my other half and the absolute love of my life. It terrifies me for what the future holds, I never know what to expect because we have literally lived our entire lives in the fear of the unknown. We will Continue to take things day by day. Never give up, miracles happen daily.