Aidan's Story
Our son Aidan was born a perfectly healthy 8 lb. 8 oz. boy on October 3, 2005,in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. My husband Brian and I, along with my parents, temporarily relocated to the Baton Rouge area after we were forced to leave New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. 

After commuting to work in New Orleans for several months, we were able to return to our home in Mid-City in late April 2006.  We enrolled Aidan in day care at the facility located on the Corps of Engineer’s campus, where Brian works.

On August 10, 2006, Brian left with Aidan early in the morning to go to work.  Aidan fell asleep on the way, and Brian, distracted by pressing matters at work and the general post-Katrina craziness of our lives, forgot to drop Aidan off at the day care facility, before parking and going into work for the day.  A few hours later, after the crisis of the day had passed, Brian somehow realized he had not taken Aidan to day care that morning. Aidan was in the car approximately 4 hours.

As a result of the heat in the car, Aidan suffered global brain damage.  He has low tone in his trunk and high tone in his extremities, and he cannot crawl or walk.  He can sit on his knees and he moves around by "bunny-hopping".  Around age 4 he began to learn and use many new words and to speak in two word phrases. Over the last two years, his speech has continued to improve, and he now regularly uses two, three and four word phrases. He has minimal motor function in his hands and cannot drink out of an open cup. He is learning to eat with a fork and spoon without assistance. We do not know the extent of his cognitive impairment, but it is clear that he is very delayed. Despite his limitations, he is a happy and social child and people always comment on his beautiful smile and beautiful eyes.

As with all brain injuries, there is no cure for his condition. We were initially told that his brain might be able to overcome the deficits caused by the injury, and he might be able to regain normal function.  This has not proven to be the case. Although he  participated, almost daily, in traditional therapies (OT, PT Speech) for over one year following his injury, he only regained minimal function.

Like so many families with brain injured children, we began our own research into alternative treatments and therapies. We found out about many treatments and therapies, the practitioners of which, claim can help children with brain injuries.  However, as with the “traditional” therapies, they do not work for everyone and there is certainly no cure for his injury.  Nevertheless, we feel that we must try as many of these treatments and therapies as possible with Aidan, to give him the best chance to recover normal function. 

More information about Aidan's therapies and treatments: Aidan's Treatments

I hope to provide updates on Aidan through a blog: http://blog.aidansanswer.org/

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