Meet Ethan

Ethan Mills was born on November 5, 2007; he was a few weeks early and was delivered by caesarian section due to a rapid decrease of amniotic fluid in the womb. We were told shortly after delivery that our son had Down Syndrome. We felt so very blessed to learn that Ethan did not suffer from any sort of heart issues like so many Down Syndrome children and we were able to bring him home from the hospital just a few days after delivery. He was and continues to be a very easy, good natured little guy. Ethan was moving right along on developmental milestones until about the age of 7 months when we began to notice sudden 'head drops'. Our initial thought was that his head may be a little to heavy to properly support with his neck but by 11 months of age we were given the diagnosis of Infantile Spasm's, a form of Epilepsy. Ironically our diagnosis came on the eve of our first Buddy Walk for Down Syndrome. Fearful of the unknown, we began to do a lot of research along with our wonderful team of doctors. Ethan was on various types of seizure medications in an attempt to curb the many seizures he would have on a daily basis. We found that some medications were helpful but sadly only for a short amount of time. When we had run the gamet of pharmaceutical solutions we turned to the Kenegenicdiet for relief. Though this 'solution' was time consuming and difficult at times we followed it religiously for several months before it too proved unsuccessful. In addition to all of this Ethan was on ACTH which caused his personality and facial features to change. Through all of this we have tried to keep a positive attitude and learn that we are not alone in our struggles. As of July of this year, Ethan is back eating 'normal' baby foods and is only on one seizure medication. He is making every effort, along with his therapists', to regain the ground he lost...We have seen, in just a months time, that our little boy can now hold an object, transfer it from hand to hand and has considerable head control. Knowing that we can now begin again to check off his accomplishments; our hopes and dreams for Ethan continue to flourish and his beautiful smiles keeps us focused and encouraged each and every day.