Liam's Journey

Liam Kristopher Reid was born Thursday, June 18th, 2009 at 7:53am at Lakeridge Oshawa Hospital. After a very LONG labour, we were finally introduced to our third son - and we were elated that he had finally arrived to complete our family of five. At my 20 week ultrasound, we learned Liam would be born with a cleft lip and palate (click here to view before and after photos, the change is astounding!). It was difficult to accept, but after networking with SO MANY other families, we realized that if Liam had to be born with a 'birth defect' (those words are hard to come to terms with when you're speaking of your own child!) that a cleft lip and palate paled in comparision to other congenital conditions. Liam was in our lives, the Sick Kids appointments began, and life went on - he fit perfectly into our little family, and his big brothers Lukas, Brady and Nathan adored him!

Almost right after his birth, we noticed that there was something wrong with Liam's left pupil, it didn't seem to ever dilate, never changed with light, always remained small, and in pictures his pupil would appear 'white'. After 3 visits to my family doctor, always being told 'he's fine, it's ok', we insisted his eye be examined more closely. It was discovered that Liam had a congenital cataract on his left eye, that if not operated on within the first few weeks of life, could cause blindness. We were immediately referred to the Sick Kids Opthamology Clinic, where it was discovered that Liam suffered from something much more than just a cataract. A congenital eye condition affecting both eyes called PHPV left him blind in both eyes. This diagnosis has been devastating to us. We were told surgery wouldn't help, that there was nothing medically to be done and we would raise our baby boy as a blind child. We left Sick Kids in a daze. I don't think any of us remember that drive home, Dave and I barely spoke, but just sat in traffic and wondered about the future of our 5 week old baby who was sleeping soundly in the back seat.

Since then Liam has had an EUA (evaluation under anesthetic) on both eyes on Sept. 8th/09; his cleft lip repaired on Oct. 28th/09; suture removal on Nov. 4th/09 and a lensectomy and vitrectomy on his right eye on Nov. 6th/09. All surgeries have been successful except his Nov. 6th eye surgery. We had hoped it would have restored some sight, but sometime during our lengthy SIX WEEK wait for surgery time, his retina had completely detatched. In an attempt to clear out his right eye and hopefully make way for some vision, our surgeon tore Liam's retina and decided that reattaching wasn't an option. Again we left Sick Kids and drove home in a daze.

But I just couldn't stop there... I researched LIam's condition and found a doctor in Detroit - Dr. Michael Trese. He operates on kids from around the world with PHPV and has achieved some wonderful results! We travelled to Detroit on Nov. 18th, and during our consultation with Dr. Trese he seemed hopeful that he could help restore SOME sort of vision for Liam. Even light perception or shadows would be incredible as currently he lives his life in complete darkness. His first surgery is scheduled for December 18th, 2009 in Detroit. His 2nd surgery will take place sometime in January 2010. These will be the beginning of his many surgeries with Dr. Trese.