A little boy who's full of life is one of the miracles in the Children's Miracle Network.
He's not even two yet but Owen has overcome the odds of being born with a severe birth defect. After multiple surgeries and with the help of the doctors at the Golisano Children's Hospital, Owen is a happy little boy.
Owen Harford is an otherwise healthy 18 month old boy but he's already endured five complicated surgeries and that's one reason Owen was recently recognized as one of this year's Miracle Kids.
Owen was born with a severe birth defect -- Gastroschisis, where his abdominal wall didn't close properly, and his intestines formed on the outside of his body.
The Harfords lives near Binghamton. And when April Harford was on her way to Golisano Children's Hospital for a checkup, she went into labor, weeks early.
Chief of Pediatric Surgery Dr. Walter Pegoli said, “He had a very significant abdominal wall defect where the hole in the abdominal wall was very, very large. Most of his intestines and his liver were on the outside. And so that's a problem. It's not compatible with life. It's fatal if it's not fixed obviously.”
Owen had to undergo multiple surgeries to re-construct his abdomen to make it functional.
Pediatric Plastic Surgeon Dr. John Girotto said, “To make Owen's abdomen back to normal you need to recreate all of the layers he was missing. So he needed prenatal lining. He needed new muscles, and new fascia to support that. He needed skin and the fat underneath as well. So we had to re-create all of those layers to put the abdomen back together.”
Doctors say Owen will grow up to be a healthy normal well-adjusted kid but he may also need further surgery to tighten his muscles along his abdomen.
Dr. Girotto said, “We have other children similar to Owen, and as they come into their teenage years, they often want a belly button like everybody else has. So the last step for Owen will be a make him a belly button when he gets closer to ten years old.”
The Harfords say they appreciated all the attention Owen got in the hospital. Doctors say Owen did great and so did his Mom. She said, “It allows you to put your trust into God and into the doctors. Just to know they are caring and that they're going to do everything they can and they're going to treat your child like their own, to try to pull them through no matter what. It was just a huge blessing to be able to receive treatment at Golisano.”
