Good NewsBaby boy smiles again — after multiple surgeries and cardiac arrests
When Bodie Gannaway was just 6 months old, he underwent surgery to treat a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot.
Complications in surgery left the little boy from Lubbock, Texas, with motor and vision impairment and required the amputation of one foot and two toes on the other.
He suffered five cardiac arrests. He required a total of 16 surgeries.
He didn't smile for 10 months.
Now almost 17 months old, and after 150 days in hospital, little Bodie is making great strides in recovery.
"His big brother is just looking forward to getting his little brother home and we've learned that families and times of crisis — you either stand together or fall apart and we've chosen to stand together," Bodie's parents Stephanie and Jay Gannaway said in May after bringing their son home from the hospital.
KLBK told Bodie's story in May:
Since the news story, Bodie underwent two more surgeries and has been thriving without a tracheostomy tube.
Last week, Jay posted a moving tribute in pictures on Imugr of his son's inspirational journey.
The final photo is a hopeful one:
"A smile!" reads the caption. "It had been ten long months since his last smile. The future is bright again."
On Sunday, Jay uploaded the latest photo of his smiling-again son:
"Bodie went 10 long months without smiling at all and finally a few rare events of him smiling have been captured in photographs. Thanks everyone for your love and support — let's continue until smiles from Bodie are a daily delight and beyond!" he wrote.
Bodie's parents told Everything Lubbock that doctors didn't expect their son to survive. They now expect Bodie to learn to walk and crawl — and to live a healthy life.
"Yes, he can make a recovery with therapy. He may have some learning disabilities, but there's no way to tell to what extent. We've been told he'll be able to walk, talk and go to school, but there are going to be some delays," Jay explained in an Q&A on Reddit.
"It sure does change your perspective on life when you watch a tiny baby fight so hard to keep his." Jay wrote in an article published on Here I Go Texas.
