Thomas Richard's story is synonymous with the term “miracle.”
When the baby boy was born, he was missing a significant part of his body — his trachea, or windpipe.
The newborn needed immediate care, considering the chance of surviving birth without a trachea is slim to none. After an initial emergency surgery, doctors searched for more answers.
Determined to keep baby Thomas alive, his doctors contacted the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.
Children's Hospital's Dr. John Densmore thought back to similar procedures that had occurred around the world, since there weren't any successful cases in the United States. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who followed Thomas' story from the beginning, Densmore turned to a pediatric method used in Japan. It was the best fitting technique for Thomas' age and size.
The idea was to perform a series of 3 surgeries that would take Thomas' esophagus from his stomach and connect it to his lungs so he could breathe. Later, his esophagus would be widened so that he would no longer need a ventilator.
“We had essentially re-tooled his swallowing pipe to become a windpipe,” Dr. John Densmore explained.
The procedures could have gone one of two ways: either very well or just horribly. It was a risk, but a well-thought-out risk they needed to take.
The string of surgeries made for a long and rigorous journey, full of ups and downs.
In the end, it was all worth it.
Baby Thomas ended up being the first person to ever survive being born without a trachea in the U.S. thanks to this specific method. Densmore's decision seemingly approved the procedure for future use and gave an innocent baby the gift of life.
Dr. Densmore reflected on the surgery, stating, “The best part of my job is to see any patient leave with a good outcome and certainly this is one of the very rare cases that will live in our memories forever, but the joy is the same.”
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