Denise Tedder, 31, and her husband Dustin knew getting pregnant again could be a risk for them.
In 2006, they had their first son, Landon. But in August 2009, Denise lost her second child at just five week pregnant due to fetal hydrops — a serious fetal condition defined by an abnormal accumulation of fluid in two or more fetal compartments.
“You see, my blood type is Rh-Negative with antibodies, and the baby will have positive blood like his dad,” Denise explained to Love What Matters.
“Basically, what happens is, my antibodies recognize the baby’s positive blood as foreign and will do its job as an antibody to try to protect me and kill the blood supply of the baby.”
When the couple found out they were pregnant again, they went to a specialist to find a way to safely bring the baby into the world.
The plan consisted of Denise going through plasmapheresis and immunoglobulin therapy. The plasmapheresis removed plasma from her blood cells, and the immunoglobulin therapy “introduced antibodies to prevent infection.”
Her blood was then given to the baby in a fetal blood transfusion through the umbilical cord, which was done seven separate times.
Soon enough, a seemingly healthy baby boy named Cannon was born via C-section. For two weeks, he was in the NICU for additional blood transfusions and issues with feeding, but he soon went home with his parents.
It wasn’t until six months later that Denise noticed something strange about Cannon: he constantly held one of his hands in a fist with his thumb tucked into it.
When she and Dustin took Cannon to see a nerve specialist, they were devastated by the news they received. After a series of tests and X-rays, the specialist explained that Cannon had probably suffered a stroke.
“We knew our baby had not had a stroke. He never had a seizure and we would know if our son had a stroke. And babies don’t have strokes! Or so we thought,” Denise wrote.
But when they saw the X-rays, they couldn’t believe their eyes. The entire left side of Cannon’s brain was dark.
“Not only did he suffer a stroke, it was a massive stroke. Big enough to kill a grown man,” she said.
The family wouldn’t receive an official diagnosis for their little boy for another 14 months.
“[He has] hemiparesis, which is weakness of one entire side of the body (hemi means ‘half’),” she wrote. “His right side is affected. The stroke occurred in his left side of the brain. And he has mild cerebral palsy.”
Cannon is now 2 years old and attends biweekly occupational therapy and weekly speech therapy and physical therapy. But according to his parents, he is just like any other boy his age.
“He is as wild and busy as an average 2-year-old,” Denise said. “I think having an older brother has helped him more than anything. Landon is able to get Cannon to do a lot as Cannon wants to be just like him. He looks up to Landon and they both adore each other.”
Both Denise and Dustin hope their son’s story can help other parents see the signs of a stroke in a young child and take action earlier than they did.
“Strokes can, will and do happen on unborns, infants or children. There are some women who had perfect pregnancies and delivers and their children still have strokes,” Denise wrote.
For now, the family is taking things day by day to help Cannon live the best life he can.
“We as parents want the very best for our children,” Denise said. “We are going to give Cannon every opportunity to beat the odds.”
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