Wyatt: Achieving Milestones with Achondroplasia

Since before Wyatt was born, our caregivers — both two and four-legged — were looking out for him. Our experts cared for him and his parents, Lacey and Thomas. Children’s Hospital Colorado specialists supported Lacey through her pregnancy, saved Wyatt’s life as a toddler and continue to help him thrive with a genetic condition today.

Achondroplasia diagnosis and a medical dog’s intuition

Wyatt and Lacey both have a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, which slows the conversion of cartilage into bone. Our Colorado Fetal Care Center is the perfect place for a family like Lacey’s. Our experts diagnosed Wyatt before birth, planned the ongoing care he would need and ensured his birth went well.

Lacey was on the way to a scheduled appointment at our center when she ran into one of our former medical dogs, Ralph. Lacey was 39 weeks pregnant and planned to give birth to Wyatt sometime that week.

“Ralph began showing concern for her – dancing around her, sniffing her like crazy, wagging his tail and looking at me like he wanted me to know something was up,” says Kizzy, Ralph’s partner and child life specialist.

Indeed, something was up. Lacey was in active labor and Ralph could sense it. Our team whisked Lacey away to delivery where she gave birth to a happy and healthy Wyatt later that afternoon.

During their stay, Ralph and Kizzy came by to meet baby Wyatt. They found him with a present from a friend who hadn't even heard the story: a onesie with Ralph's face on it.

Ralph left the room appearing relieved.

“As soon as he met Wyatt, Ralph was no longer concerned,” Kizzy says.

In his early days, Wyatt saw experts at Children’s Colorado for physical therapy to help with some developmental delays that are common with his condition. Everything was going smoothly but at 18 months, Wyatt got sick, and it rocked their whole world.

The fight against pulmonary hypertension for Wyatt’s life

Wyatt developed a typical cold that wasn’t improving, so Lacey and Thomas scheduled an appointment with their pediatrician. But on a quick day trip before the appointment arrived, they had a gut feeling this could be more than a cold. Wyatt wasn’t his normal self, and they decided to stop at our North Campus, Broomfield, location. Our experts saw that Wyatt wasn’t getting enough oxygen and immediately transported him to our Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora for care.

Within 30 minutes, our experts found that several respiratory illnesses were attacking Wyatt’s lungs and sending his heart into overdrive. Our experts intubated Wyatt, and he went into cardiac arrest. Our team immediately got him on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine that provides temporary support to the heart and lungs while Wyatt fought for his life.

“We were in a state of shock,” Lacey and Thomas say.

Wyatt was transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and saw teams across the hospital in orthopedics, breathing, heart and ear, nose and throat. Together, they found that Wyatt had pulmonary hypertension, a condition that affects blood pressure in his arteries. Because he has dwarfism, his short stature and smaller chest size weren’t big enough for his lungs and heart to expand. Thankfully, our Heart Institute created the first multidisciplinary center for pediatric pulmonary hypertension care in the United States.

“It was like he was always running a marathon,” Lacey says. “But the PICU team was so nice. It was a blessing.”

Wyatt continued ECMO as the team figured out what medications he needed and provided oxygen to help his growing body. While Wyatt was in the hospital, his parents found solace in our resources, like our respite rooms and spiritual support like chaplain care.

“All the things that the hospital offered to help us get through that time were huge,” Thomas says. “There were just so many resources that you wouldn’t think of as parents but that you need. Financial resources specifically were amazing to help figure everything out.”

Thriving with support for achondroplasia

Once Wyatt was strong enough, he was taken off ECMO support, and three weeks later, he left the hospital with seven medications and oxygen to get him back to his active self. Our Skeletal Dysplasia Program is Wyatt’s medical home, bringing together in one place specialists from orthopedics, rehabilitation, physical therapy, genetics and breathing to coordinate his care and connect his family with other families with skeletal dysplasia. Today, Wyatt doesn’t take medication regularly and can go most of the day without oxygen while enjoying his first year in kindergarten.

“Having dwarfism myself, there weren’t accommodations in school,” Lacey says. “But with Wyatt, they have thought about things above and beyond — lowered a swing for him on the playground, a cart to push his oxygen, a special way to get his lunch. It’s been phenomenal. The team at Children's Colorado helped us get everything we need.”

Outside of school, Wyatt enjoys tee ball, playing with his sister and has a mega sweet tooth — specifically for M&Ms and chocolate. He wants to be a police officer when he grows up and continues to be an inspiration as a Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation ambassador, raising money to help other kids like him. Throughout everything, Lacey and Thomas knew that trusting their gut and the specialists around them would help Wyatt survive.

“I would tell other families to trust in the team's care,” Lacey says. “As a parent, it’s hard in general when things are outside of your control, but they are experts. Trust in your gut to advocate for your child because you know them best.”