When you look at his pictures, Matthew Boler is an adorable, chubby cheeked baby.
However, during Matthew’s 2-month checkup, a pediatrician found that he wasn’t born with a soft spot on his head, which could lead to a dangerous condition called craniosynostosis, according to ABC7 Chicago.
Craniosysnostosis could reportedly cause the joints between the bones of a baby’s skull to close prematurely resulting in the brain not being able to grow properly.
“His brain was growing underneath but the skull doesn’t allow for it because of the way it’s fused,” stated Dr. Sandi Lam, Director of Craniofacial Surgery Program at Texas Children’s Hospital.
“There’s no medicine that will unfuse the bone, the treatment is surgery and basically we have to cut out the bad bone.”
At just 10-weeks, little Matthew had to undergo a surgery to correct his misshapen skull, according to the publication ZME Science. Matthew’s recovery is amazing, as the skull reportedly reverted back to its normal shape within 72 hours.
Matthew’s parents reportedly initially thought that their son had just followed in the genetic, family tradition of large, round heads, and were “overwhelmed and scared” to find out that that wasn’t the case.
“We definitely thought it looked a little unusual, We thought that maybe he has an unusual-shaped head,” stated Matthew’s mom Megan Boler.
“We didn’t think about any of the ramifications.”
Although having her baby undergo surgery and helmet therapy at such a young age was stressful, Boler stated that the experience has strengthened them as a family.
“I learned a lot about trusting others to take care of my child,” explained Boler.
“I also learned to take Matthew’s lead. Whenever I began to feel overwhelmed or scared and I just looked at his smiling face and knew it was going to be ok. He met each obstacle with a smile.”