At 15 months of age, Cody underwent a two-phase surgery. The first phase consisted of attaching electrodes directly into Cody's brain and monitor its function. They had to be sure they knew exactly what part of the brain they would be doing surgery on. The second phase consisted of a surgery to remove the entire left side of his brain, with the exception of his motorstrip. Cody is doing very well...and has made a remarkable recovery.

Although Cody's seizures are under control, he still has a long road ahead of him. Since the left side of your brain is where your speech is located, Cody has a very limited vocabulary. He is going to speech therapy, but is also learning sign language as a back-up in case he doesn't regain his speech. (Although the fact that he does have SOME speech is a sign that the right side of his brain has started to compensate for the left side.) He may also be faced with some learning disabilities in the future.

Once you meet Cody you will see just how bright he really is. He is a very cute, loving little boy that will steal your heart instantly. We are so glad to be helping the Fairchild family...Mom Melissa, Dad Chad, Older Brother Caleb, and younger brother Camden."

Update: January 2012

Cody Fairchild was born on January 13, 2004. He was a healthy baby boy who, throughout the first few months, was rolling over like any other infant and giving that occasional smile that eventually turned into a giggle. Cody seemed as normal as any other child his age.

At 8 months old, Cody started having seizures. He would have anywhere from 200-300 a day. After many tests at Toledo Children’s, Cody was diagnosed with infantile spasms, an uncommon to rare epileptic disorder in infants. He was given many different medications to try to control this, but his seizures continued to wrack his little body. Cody was then referred to the neurologists at Detroit Children’s.

The doctors at Detroit Children’s performed many tests on Cody to see what they could do for him. Normally, Infantile Spasms are generalized throughout the brain, but with Cody, the tests came back where his seizures were focused on the left side of his brain. This made him a candidate for surgery.

At 15 months old, Cody went through his first set of surgeries consisting of two-phases. Neurosurgeons placed electrodes directly on his brain to measure where exactly the seizures were coming from and then a couple days later, actually removing 60% of the left side of his brain. It had worked and he was seizure free for over a year after until he started having them again. More tests were done and at 3 years old, Cody had the rest of the left side of his brain removed, sparing his motor strip. It took a lot of strength for Cody to recover.

After many complications and many surgeries later, since January 4, 2008, Cody has now been seizure free for 3 years. He can talk in sentences and loves to argue with his brothers, Caleb and Camden. Cody is attending Dundee Elementary School where he is in all day Kindergarten. He has learned to spell and write his name without assistance, can count to 16, and knows all of his colors. Last summer, Cody played t-ball and then in the fall, helped coach his big brothers football team. With the heart and strength like his, Cody will continue to keep learning new things and overcoming his disabilities.