Dalton Story

Dalton was born on May 25, 2000 at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. Within a few hours of birth, he was transferred to Children's Hospital in Seattle where he has received care for the past 10 months.

These pictures are intended to show you the remarkable journey that Dalton and us as a family have been through these past months.

Dalton had a tube put in his mouth for breathing after two days. He kept this tube for 3 months when it was switched to a nasal location.

Early on, the main concern for Dalton was always the threat of losing his airway. The hygroma pressed into his trachea and if the tube were to pop out, he would have a serious threat of a collapsing airway.

While there were times that certain things caused Dalton some amount of pain, he was generally happy and as pain free as he could be. One main concern in showing these photos is that you mistake his look for pained. Generally he was not in pain, so please keep that in mind. :-)

Dalton and mom have always had special eyes for each other. Kelli has spent many many hours at the hospital learning the special ways that she can care for and help Dalton. After the first few months, our mental focus became learning what we could in case he was able to come home.

The boys found the hospital a new place to check all the things out. We tried as much as possible to bring them to see Dalton. They always knew their brother was in the hospital and as Davis would say, "He has a bubble".

I think one of the hardest things for Kelli and I was maintaining a family unit while we were all not in one place. We still struggle with that although the boys do wonderfully considering the upheaval in their lives this past year.