It all seems a little bit unreal, but everything about little Jaxon Buell’s moving story is as real as can be. The child, now famously known as ‘Jaxon Strong’, was born with a rare, extreme birth defect, Microhydranencephaly, where the brain and skull don’t form properly. It is estimated that about one in 4,859 babies are born with this rare condition in America, but most die in the womb or shortly after birth. Despite this, his brave parents Brittany and Brandon Buell never gave up — and I’d say they did well not to, as little Jaxon just celebrated his first complete and thriving year of life.
From the start the Florida, USA, parents refused to give up, even as doctors predicted a short survival time for little Jaxon.
Mother Brittany Buell, 27, said she was devastated at the thought her son wouldn’t survive.
“It was heart breaking because something I always wanted my whole life was happening, but then I was told there was a possibility it might be a stillborn,” she told UNILAD.
But against all odds, not only did he survive birth, Jaxon celebrated his one-year birthday on August 27th, 2015.
Here are self-described “overdue and honest words” from father Brandon Buell:
“As I write this, my son is sleeping in the other room, comfortably, snoring just like I do, his sound machine playing the ocean waves tune over and over,” he writes on the Jaxon Strong Facebook page, which has over 125,000 likes.
“Tomorrow, Jax will be 13-months-old,” he continues. “It’s hard not to think about how this all started and where we are today. Most importantly, Jaxon is still here with us, still learning, still developing, still thriving. He’s back to smiling at us, always so happy in the morning after he wakes up and takes turns looking at both Mommy’s and Daddy’s face, seemingly as if he is so excited to start another day.”
Jaxon, says Brandon, is in so many ways just like all other 13-month-olds:
“He is talking up a storm these days,” he says. “Truly teaching himself how to communicate with us in his own way, in his own language, and we actually understand it after learning with him for these 13 months. He says “Mama”, and he says “Ah Ah” (Dadda), and “Addy” (Daddy). I love that. Jaxon is simply that, Jaxon. (…) He is a baby who is dealing with teething, he cries when he’s hungry, he hurts from gas pains, he throws ups, he cries, he poops, he sleeps, he repeats.”
Due to the baby’s malformation, the family does deal with some relative differences while raising him, but they couldn’t be happier to do so.
“For our family, it’s also normal to feed our baby by feeding tube. It’s normal to embrace him as he goes through his startle seizures multiple times a day. It’s normal to look at Jaxon and see a perfectly created boy and other babies truly do look weird and oversized to us.”
This family’s story and especially the dad’s words went straight to my heart, and I just had to share this with you.
Both Jaxon and his family are just so brave! I have so much respect and admiration for their strength.
Make sure to share their story if you feel the same.
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