Dripping Springs mother Paige Powell prepares to plant a tender kiss on her son Beckettt as he lay in bed. At right, the sunny child’s happy face.
The worst thing a parent can experience is watching their child suffer, but a Dripping Springs mother only recalls all the miracles that healed her son.
Paige Powell’s 5-year-old son’s strep throat diagnosis turned out to be a tumor in his head, but finding it sooner rather than later was the first miracle.
Her easy going, long haired youngest boy Beckett was staying up all night crying about his head hurting and that’s when Powell knew that this was different. Beckett’s headaches continued and his neck became so stiff he could not turn his head to look at others.
Pediatricians said Beckett could possibly have an abscess from the strep virus that would need to be drained surgically, but after a CT scan they found a tangerine sized tumor at the base of Beckett’s skull.
Powell felt helpless wanting to cure her son herself, but disbelief was awash.
“It is unbelievable I mean in every sense of the word. It's weird because I've seen stories like these pop up on social media and you always feel for those parents but you really never think this would be my story, so it's even weird saying it now,” Powell said.
At the Texas Children’s Hospital, a doctor recommended by Powell’s friends was coincidently on call to perform Beckett’s surgery.
Dr. William E. Whitehead was a miracle worker. In Powell’s blog post a nurse assured Powell that Beckett was in great hands.
“Dr. Whitehead ain’t got no quit in him,” the nurse told Powell.
After a 10-hour surgery, Beckett’s tumor was removed and he got to keep his long blonde hair. Luckily, Beckett would not need radiation, chemotherapy or any kind of follow up treatment.
After surgery, Powell stayed at the hospital for three months to learn about Beckett’s 12 to 24-month intensive speech and occupational therapy and rehabilitation.
“The surgery is over, now the real work begins. It’s a marathon,” Powell said.
Fortunately, Powell has the support of her community and family to make sure that her business, Black Bear Farm, and her other children’s lives have basically stayed the same. It just looks different how they are handled.
“I just feel like it all happened for a reason you know our friends and our family and the doctors and physical therapists and everybody that have sort of been put in our path has just sort of laid down a really great foundation for Beckett to just heal and I can't feel anything but grateful and thankful for everything now that we've gone through,” Powell said.
Beckett is currently recovering faster than expected and continues to make progress every day.
