Snyder resident battling spinal condition turns five

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Kaison Garza, a Snyder boy who suffers from spina bifida, will turn five years old later this month.

Kaison’s mother Traci Garza said that After an ultrasound at 20 weeks, doctors told her that her son had spina bifida and would be deformed. With this condition, a sac of fluid would come through an opening in the baby’s back, and part of the spinal cord and nerves would be damaged.

“They told us that you don’t want to deal with a spina bifida kid because they go through so many surgeries. Many don’t walk and are paralyzed,” Garza said. “I was crying all the time, because it was just so much. My husband and I talked about it, but we already knew what we wanted. We were going to keep him, regardless of the situation. We’re going to be there for him through whatever comes our way.”

Just minutes after he was born in 2015, Kaison was rushed to surgery to treat his condition and had to have a shunt inserted into his head because of excess fluid. 

It will need to be changed every four years for the rest of his life. He has since had 15 more surgeries from complications.

Garza said that although she and her husband knew that Kaison would likely never walk or talk, their son was tougher than they had thought.

“Almost two years ago, he started walking, and his talking was progressing really well. His crawling wasn’t so good, but I knew he’d get there. If he was going to be late to walking and talking, it was fine with me,” Garza said. 

“We had a walker to use, and every day he used his walker to walk around the kitchen and to the living room, back and forth. It was the best thing ever to see.”

Last year, Kaison had three strokes, which stunted his advancement in walking and talking for a time.

“He started crawling more, but we kept on him to help him walk, and his talking was a little bit delayed again at that time,” Garza said. 

“He has good days and bad days.”

Most of the time, though Garza said that Kaison acts like a normal little boy.

“He enjoys watching YouTube, and he loves playing with his toys — cars and blocks. He loves going out to the lake and going fishing. He’s a really sweet guy. He can go through a surgery, and within that same day he’s trying to get up with a smile on his face,” she said.

When Kaison’s parents asked him what he wanted for his August 31 birthday, he said he just wanted lots of birthday cards.

You can contribute to Kaison’s GoFundMe page at https://rb.gy/fhjt5g, pick an item from his Amazon wishlist at https://rb.gy/8ygvtu, or send him a card at the address below:

Kaison Garza 

3718 Austin Avenue

Snyder, Texas 79549