Your Health: Warwick Baby Undergoes Life Changing Surgery

October 25, 2018 11:45 am

Email: mrandall@abc6.com

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WARWICK, R.I. (WLNE–TV)— Grayson Tibbetts is your typical two year old boy.

“He’s a happy, crazy little guy. He’s fun loving,” said Stew Tibbetts, Grayson’s Dad.

Looking at him now you’d never know the Warwick toddler once had a misshapen head caused by premature fusing of the bones in his skull.

“As soon as he was born we noticed that his head had a little funny shape, but a lot of newborns have a funny shaped head so we didn’t think too much of it,” said Erica Tibbetts, Grayson’s Mom.

It was at Gray’s one month appointment that his doctor first mentioned craniosynostosis. It’s a moment his parents will never forget.

“It’s just absolutely devastating to hear that your one month old baby could be facing this life long problem,” said Erica.

The traditional corrective surgery is very extensive and requires an incision from ear to ear over the top of the skull. But there’s another less invasive option, an endoscopic procedure, that’s being done at Hasbro Children’s Hospital.

“The beauty of the program that we have here is that we’re really cutting edge in regards to this and we’re offering some of the techniques that most other programs in the country cannot do,” said Dr. Albert Woo, Chief of Pediatric Plastic Surgery at the Providence hospital.

Dr. Woo and his partner, Dr. Petra Klinge, the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Hasbro, examined Gray and determined he was a perfect candidate. A few weeks later an operating room was booked.

“We had to hand him over and that was, by far, the worst moment of our lives,” said Erica. “It was terrifying.”

The surgeons made two incisions and removed the strip of bone that was abnormal. The whole process took about an hour. Gray’s doctors say everything went text book.

“We saw it right away how the brain expanded and we knew right away that we had helped this little boy,” said Dr. Klinge.

“I challenge anybody to look at Grayson, even a trained craniofacial surgeon, and say there’s anything wrong with him. He looks normal. Fantastic,” explained Dr. Woo.

But most importantly, Grayson’s brain now had room to grow. He was fitted for a protective helmet and was home within two days. Fast forward and that helmet is now much too small for the little Cranio Warrior who happens to be meeting all his developmental milestones.

“You can’t see his scars. His head is beautiful. He’s got a full head of hair,” said Erica. “He’s perfect.”

“You wouldn’t know anything ever happened in the past which is why this procedure is so great. It happened so early that he never knew it happened,” said Stew.

Parents who are concerned about the shape of their baby’s head should see a specialist right away. The window to do the endoscopic procedure is just 3 to 4 months.