Nicholas was born at 23 weeks 5 days gestation weighing 1 pound 6 ounces at St Ann’s hospital. At 11 days old he was moved to Children’s hospital when the doctors figured out that he needed a PDA ligation on his heart. Not only that but he had a grade 3 and a grade 4 bilateral brain bleed from being born with very little skull to protect his tiny brain. They told me that he would be a vegetable, blind, deaf, and he could have mental issues because of the damage done to his brain from just being born. Nick only had a 5 percent survival rate to live past 24 hours and he survived. He fought to be here every single day. He had his heart surgery on the NICU floor at his bed when he was 5 weeks old. The first time I ever got to hold him was minutes before his surgery. It was touch and go but he made it. He stayed intubated until he was 3 months old and because of that he had BPD. He also had ROP and came home on oxygen just 2 weeks after his due date and had the cannula oxygen until he was 7 months old. Nick has overcome every thing that should have killed him. Nicholas Caden means victorious fighter, and today I can say that because of all the nurses and doctors at Children’s Hospital who never gave up and kept fighting right along side us, my little fighter is now 10 almost 11 years old going into the 5th grade and has ADHD, wears reading glasses and is the sweetest kid around. He is not a vegetable or blind or deaf. He is a normal 10 year old boy that just so happened to be born 17 weeks premature. The angels we had watching over us there in the spiritual and physical sense helped my baby make it to where he is now. He wants to change the world, he wants to help people who come from nothing. He wants to build homes just to give them to people in need. And I have no doubt that he will. For my micropreemie, he passed all the odds. He overcame every thing. And today I am thankful.

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• Name: Nicholas B.Nicholas Blankenship
• Condition(s): Prematurity
• Age at Treatment: 11 days old
• Age Today: 11/14/200518 Years

Nicholas was born at 23 weeks 5 days gestation weighing 1 pound 6 ounces at St Ann’s hospital. At 11 days old he was moved to Children’s hospital when the doctors figured out that he needed a PDA ligation on his heart. Not only that but he had a grade 3 and a grade 4 bilateral brain bleed from being born with very little skull to protect his tiny brain. They told me that he would be a vegetable, blind, deaf, and he could have mental issues because of the damage done to his brain from just being born. Nick only had a 5 percent survival rate to live past 24 hours and he survived. He fought to be here every single day. He had his heart surgery on the NICU floor at his bed when he was 5 weeks old. The first time I ever got to hold him was minutes before his surgery. It was touch and go but he made it. He stayed intubated until he was 3 months old and because of that he had BPD. He also had ROP and came home on oxygen just 2 weeks after his due date and had the cannula oxygen until he was 7 months old. Nick has overcome every thing that should have killed him. Nicholas Caden means victorious fighter, and today I can say that because of all the nurses and doctors at Children’s Hospital who never gave up and kept fighting right along side us, my little fighter is now 10 almost 11 years old going into the 5th grade and has ADHD, wears reading glasses and is the sweetest kid around. He is not a vegetable or blind or deaf. He is a normal 10 year old boy that just so happened to be born 17 weeks premature. The angels we had watching over us there in the spiritual and physical sense helped my baby make it to where he is now. He wants to change the world, he wants to help people who come from nothing. He wants to build homes just to give them to people in need. And I have no doubt that he will. For my micropreemie, he passed all the odds. He overcame every thing. And today I am thankful.