In a matter of 9 months, Amy and Mike Howard went from being a family of two to a family of five. Then, their babies made history in the medical world.
Hunter, Jackson and Kaden, appear to be the first triplets to be born with craniosynostosis: a rare birth defect in which the bones of the skull form prematurely. They were just 11 weeks old when this trio underwent surgery to correct their condition.
“We were very scared”, said their mother, 38 year old Amy Howard.
The triplets were born last October. Hunter and Jackson are identical and Kaden is physically different. After a few days, doctors realized that their skulls weren’t normal. Kaden’s head was in the shape of a triangle and his forehead was too prominent.
This condition affects 1 in every 2,500 babies. The doctors who treated these babies said that there had never before been triplets born with this disease. It’s definitely an extremely rare case.
The three operations took place over two days in January, and for all the siblings the operations were a success. A few days later, they returned home. For the following nine months, the kids will have to use custom made helmets for 23 hours per day so their skulls will take on a normal shape.
