About Samuel
Samuel Waddell is my 5 year-old son who underwent a 15-hour brain surgery at the
Cleveland Clinic on August 31, 2007 to remove a dermoid cyst, present from birth.
Sammy, Day 1, major swelling and on a respirator

We first learned of his tumor in June 2007 while I was in the hospital
recuperating from the birth of our second child, Jacob.
Sammy's sterile wrap
removed Day 3
Sammy day 5, after 20
minutes of play, is
Samuel had x-rays, a C.T. scan and M.R.I. at Akron Children's Hospital
and a second M.R.I. at the Cleveland Clinic. The tumor eroded away a
majority of Samuel's nasal bone which was reconstructed with wires,
fillers and a skin graft.
Sammy happy to be home with
baby Jacob
Neurosurgeons removed a 4"x3" section of his frontal bone (forehead) to gain access to
the cyst. The tumor had traveled along the underside lining of his brain. Surgeons
cauterized 99.9% off, leaving the possibility of the tumor to resurface in the future.

However, this was a safer route than cutting off the cyst, since they would have to cut off
part of the dura (the lining of the brain) causing vital fluid around the brain to leak - which
is an even more serious situation. The bone was replaced and metal plates were inserted
to hold it in place.

Samuel spent four days in the P.I.C.U. with immense swelling of his brain and facial tissue
as well as his eyes. Samuel's eyes still swell when he sleeps or bumps his face.

Samuel had his first M.R.I. check-up since the surgery in early September of 2008. We
are ecstatic to announce that "everything looks well" according to the surgeons. We are
told that it will take time (years) before they know if the bone will regenerate over the
wires. If his bone does not regenerate, he faces another surgery where a bone graft will
be taken from either his skull or rib and placed at the wires. This proceedure is no promise
that the bone will regenerate.

Samuel only had a less than 30% chance of retaining any sense of smell, which we are
thankful to announce that it is still present. I never thought hearing him say "eww, I smell
stinky cow poop" as we drove through the country shortly after his surgery could sound so
sweet!

My husband and I call him the $200,000 baby because so far this is what his medical
expenses have accrued to. Samuel has ongoing medical expenses that will continue
throughout the course of his life. Yearly M.R.I.'s which are over $3,000 each, specialist
visits that are usually around $700 per office visit (he is down to 2 specialists) and any
other medical treatment that may arise.

Samuel has accrued some scarring on his nose from the cyst rupturing through the skin a
week previous to his surgery.  We hope to have the money saved to correct this, should
he choose to elect this in his later teens. Samuel had a run in with some older children at
a park this summer who called him "nasty face boy." It hurt me so much to see his feelings
hurt, but I said "you know honey, that's called ignorance- when people say silly things that
they have no idea what they are talking about." It makes sense to him, so he now
disregards these children, or tells them "that's ignorance," which confuses them and then
they leave him alone.

Samuel started preschool this year. The parents attended a conference previous to their
first day. We all sat down with the other parents from our childrens class to meet each
other. One of the exercises we did was to share about our child. I had a knot in my
stomach as I proceeded to tell the other parents about Sam. Everyone's jaw dropped! My
purpose was to inform everyone about how the visible scars came about and to ask
everyone to speak with their children about it so that they wouldn't make him feel
uncomfortable. I also explained the incident at the park. I am confident that it worked
because Samuel has not mentioned anything about others questioning his scars.

However, I do fear that once he starts public school, the taunting of other children may
cause irreversible mental damage as he is an extremely sensitive boy. That may cause
him to have a hard time focusing on school, finding friends, and low self esteem. His
doctors have stated that he would have to wait until his teens for any cosmetic surgery.
To us, he is as beautiful as the day he was born. We have a lot of encouragement to do
within the next year to prepare him.

It is my wish that Sweets For Samuel will become my full-time "Dream Come True" job -
working from home and caring for my children. We hope that we can attain a pastry shop
in the near future where we can donate a yearly percentage of the proceeds to local
hospitals who care for needy children.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me and I will do my best to offer what
knowledge I have on Dermoid Cysts or recommend you to the steps you might want to
take in finding a physician who will help.

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