We didn’t plan on transferring my son Colin to Nationwide Children’s Hospital; my husband had to move here in order to keep his job, but moving him to this hospital was one of the best things that happened for him and our family. Ofcourse hindsight is 20/20 and if I had known that Nationwide specialized in my son’s condition, I may have had him transferred from Pittsburgh earlier. My son was born at 32 weeks gestation after I had Preterm Premature Rupture of the Membranes (PPROM) at 25 weeks. It was a miracle that my son was able to grow for seven weeks after the rupture, but his lungs were not in good shape at birth. His right lung immediately collapsed and he was on the ventilator for quite some time. After several failed extubations, we made the choice to have a trach placed. He received his trach on February 28, 2014. It was a life changer for Colin, he was able to be free from the constant swaddling in order to prevent self extubations and I was able to get him out of his bed whenever I pleased. At the time, we were at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and their plan was to get him transitioned to a home ventilator and get us home. I was OK with that plan since everyone wants their baby at home and not in the hospital. Colin was transferred to NCH on April 9, 2014 and when we arrived, we discovered that they had a brand new plan for him. They did not want to send Colin home on a ventilator, they wanted to wean him completely off of support and send him home on a low oxygen setting (30%). At first, as you can imagine, I was quite upset that the plan was not to get him on a home ventilator right away and get him home, but after speaking with several doctors and nurses about this plan, I was becoming more accepting of it. I thought of how much easier life at home could be without dragging a home vent around with us everywhere we went and just having an oxygen tank. They were successful in weaning Colin off the ventilator then off of CPAP support within seven weeks and after receiving a G-Tube, Colin went home on 30% oxygen after 201 days in the NICU (a total of three different NICUs). We are so thankful for Nationwide and the BPD unit, because now at 2 and a half, Colin is thriving and very typical in most areas. He got his trach out on April 25th and has just started eating all of his calories by mouth instead of through his G-Tube.

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• Name: Colin K.Colin Kendall
• Condition(s): Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD), Prematurity
• Age at Treatment: 4 months
• Age Today: 12/25/201310 Years

We didn’t plan on transferring my son Colin to Nationwide Children’s Hospital; my husband had to move here in order to keep his job, but moving him to this hospital was one of the best things that happened for him and our family. Ofcourse hindsight is 20/20 and if I had known that Nationwide specialized in my son’s condition, I may have had him transferred from Pittsburgh earlier. My son was born at 32 weeks gestation after I had Preterm Premature Rupture of the Membranes (PPROM) at 25 weeks. It was a miracle that my son was able to grow for seven weeks after the rupture, but his lungs were not in good shape at birth. His right lung immediately collapsed and he was on the ventilator for quite some time. After several failed extubations, we made the choice to have a trach placed. He received his trach on February 28, 2014. It was a life changer for Colin, he was able to be free from the constant swaddling in order to prevent self extubations and I was able to get him out of his bed whenever I pleased. At the time, we were at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and their plan was to get him transitioned to a home ventilator and get us home. I was OK with that plan since everyone wants their baby at home and not in the hospital. Colin was transferred to NCH on April 9, 2014 and when we arrived, we discovered that they had a brand new plan for him. They did not want to send Colin home on a ventilator, they wanted to wean him completely off of support and send him home on a low oxygen setting (30%). At first, as you can imagine, I was quite upset that the plan was not to get him on a home ventilator right away and get him home, but after speaking with several doctors and nurses about this plan, I was becoming more accepting of it. I thought of how much easier life at home could be without dragging a home vent around with us everywhere we went and just having an oxygen tank. They were successful in weaning Colin off the ventilator then off of CPAP support within seven weeks and after receiving a G-Tube, Colin went home on 30% oxygen after 201 days in the NICU (a total of three different NICUs). We are so thankful for Nationwide and the BPD unit, because now at 2 and a half, Colin is thriving and very typical in most areas. He got his trach out on April 25th and has just started eating all of his calories by mouth instead of through his G-Tube.