Cassie's Page


It’s been a while since we have updated Cassie’s page. She is just finishing her second year of preschool and will be ready for kindergarten next year. She has had 23 surgeries and it looks like we will be doing at least one more this summer. She loves to play and is learning how to write. She already knows how to spell her name. Here are some new pictures so you can see how she is doing.
 


Daddy and Cassie – Kent and Cassie
 

Cassie at the cabin – Taken March 2010
 

Mommy and the girls – Christine with Cassie and Natalie
 

Ready to Jet Ski – Cassie, Natalie and big brother Dylan
 


Mom (Christine) and Cassie getting ready for church


Daddy (Kent) & Cassie on Easter Sunday

Hello! We are Kent and Christine Harper and we would like to introduce you to our beautiful daughter Cassie. Cassie Renae Harper was born on July 6, 2005. She was 10 weeks premature. We were enjoying the 4th of July Weekend when Christine went into labor. She was taken on Life Flight to St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise, Idaho. The doctor’s said that they were going to try to keep Cassie “inside” for another 2 weeks, but Cassie had different plans. She was born the next day.

From the moment she was born we knew something was wrong. We knew that she was going to be small but had no idea about her being born with Apert Syndrome, let alone what that syndrome was. The doctor’s told us that there was a problem with her head and that her fingers and toes were fused. Then they whisked her away to the NICU. We were left alone in the delivery room in shock and tears. The next day an NICU doctor and nurse came into our hospital room with a packet of information about Aperts. They told us that we should read-up on the syndrome and that they would take good care of her.

We spent time with her everyday in the NICU and the doctors and nurses were wonderful. Before we knew it Cassie had a neurosurgeon, plastic surgeon, neurologist and about 3 or four other doctors. When she was 20 days old she had her first surgery. Her neurosurgeon placed a shunt in her head because of her hydrocephalus and the sutures were cut in the front of her skull. This helped the shape of her head tremendously. We finally got to take her home on September 7th, two days before Christine’s birthday.
One week later we were back in the hospital for a shunt revision surgery, the first of many. She also had two shunt infections that required the shunts to be completely removed to fight the infections. From September to January of 2006 we were “regulars” at the hospital. The nurses and doctors got to know us really well. We also endured Cassie wearing a helmet to help shape her head.

As of May 2007, Cassie has had 12 surgeries. Most of them dealt with her shunt, one to remove her adenoids and to put tubes in her ears, and the most recent to start the separation of her fingers. The doctors have been very pleased with her progress. She is scheduled to have her first cranial surgery in September.
Cassie is just like a regular little girl and she has brought so much joy into our lives. When she was born we questioned why God would give us a child with so many “problems” and we complained about how unfair it was. Looking back we now know that God knew we needed her in our lives. She has taught us so much and we wouldn’t change anything.
 

Cassie in her little bed in the NICU


Getting some sleep before her first shunt revision

Playing tug-of-war with Daddy

Cassie in her helmet






 

Cassie on her first birthday

This page was updated April 24, 2010

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