Meet Our CMN Hero Charlie!

Bringing a newborn baby home from the hospital is the single most monumental, nerve-wracking, exciting moment every parent first experiences with their child. However, 5-year-old Charlie’s parents, Melisa and Jed, would instead recall their memory as an alarming and anxiety-ridden time of awaiting answers while their precious, new bundle of joy was struggling to breathe.

“When we came home, Charlie wasn’t eating well and his throat would cave in when he tried to breathe,” explained Melisa.

Several tests, appointments and a scope examination of Charlie’s tiny nasal cavity later revealed a diagnosis of bilateral choanal atresia, which is a blockage in the nasal cavity caused by cartilage or bone and makes it virtually impossible for a baby to breathe, especially as babies cannot alternatively breathe through their mouths until they are 6-12 weeks old.

Charlie has had many appointments through the years with Gundersen pediatric specialists, Neuroscience, Genetics and Speech-Language Pathology for a more recent diagnosis of speech delay apraxia. Melisa and Jed are incredibly grateful for the support provided all throughout by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in the form of gas cards to help with the commutes to the hospital, oxygen equipment and an iPad with special programs for supplemental speech therapy.

Charlie is the perfect example of what it means to be a CMN Hero: strong, brave and ready to take on the world – despite his health obstacles. And his parents and older sister, Julisa, could not be prouder!