pro
“I'm a husband, dad, business owner, author, speaker and TV host & I was born with a condition that can only be treated with brain surgery.”
I was born in Ft. Collins, CO, in 1977. When I was 2 weeks old, it was confirmed that I had hydrocephalus and aqueductal stenosis, and I received my first shunt. Over the next few years, I had several surgeries, most related to hydrocephalus through about age 10. When I was 18, the summer after graduating from high school, I had a couple more hydrocephalus-related surgeries (one of which was a revision). Following those two surgeries, I had a nice long break for about 18 years.
During that time I graduated high school, traveled the world for a year as a singer with a group called Up with People, became a productive, working adult, married Catherine, and we now have 3 amazing children (Elizabeth, Nick, and Kacia) that are growing up way too fast.
Between 2013 and 2022, I had 6 more surgeries - 5 of them were directly related to hydrocephalus. Shortly after a revision in 2018, I was sitting in the exam room waiting for my neurosurgeon to come in to do a follow-up. It was quiet in the room, and I began to hear sounds from the room next to mine that sounded like distraught parents. I thought to myself, "I wonder if they are finding out that their child is going to have brain surgery..."
That got me thinking and my mind was flooded with thoughts of my parents and what they may have felt after hearing that I had to have brain surgery when I was just 2 weeks old, not to mention all the revisions over the years, the worry they must have felt every time I rode my bike or skateboard somewhere, climbed...anything, or went snowboarding.
I wondered if they had any support while I was growing up. Did they have anyone that they could relate to while raising a child with this condition? That gave me the beginning ideas about what would become Hydro with Hope. My wife, Catherine, and I started brainstorming how we might be able to help people. We ultimately decided to join the online community on social media (primarily Facebook and Instagram at the time), and we started our own private group.
The idea behind this was to be able to reach people all around the world and let them know that, despite the scariness of brain surgery and the ensuing challenges of living with hydrocephalus, there's HOPE.
Having lived with hydrocephalus for over 45 years, I can say 3 things with 100% certainty:
