When Mikey was born at 21 weeks is parents knew he would be born with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) so the family  temporarily relocated to St. Petersburg, FL to have him where they specialized in CDH. 

CDH is a condition where his diaphragm has a hole in it and his intestines were pushed up to his heart making his lungs smaller. He was intubated at birth and on day 3 he was put on emergency ECMO (an advanced form of life support) for 26 days.  ECMO helped Mikey survive as it took over for his heart and lungs.

When his parents did genetics testing, they found out Mikey had Pfeiffer Syndrome as well.

During his stay for 199 days in the NICU, he fought hard with many surgeries for CDH and Pfeiffer including:  g-tube, skull, tongue to lip adhesion, and a tracheostomy.  He needed a tracheostomy because he was born with no rings in his trachea causing his airways to collapse. 

Since being home he has been back to the hospital for airway surgeries and a few more surgeries with plastics.  

Mikey's family was denied by insurance to get help with nursing, so they work hard to take care of Mikey’s needs. He continues to see his team in St Petersburg who are constantly monitoring him with MRI’s, bronchoscopes, X-rays, and more to determine what surgeries are needed next.