Anthony with his daddy and sister making silly faces
Anthony and his sister, Mikayla. 
Anthony in his hunting gear! :)
Enjoying a trip to the pumpkin patch!
A rare summer day not in a cast
Anthony and his cousin Braden spending some time at Mayo.
November visit to Mayo. Smiling even after just having surgery.
Anthony was born August 26th, 2010. When we went to his 1st birthday check-up with the doctor she did not like the way his back looked and wanted us to look into it. Shortly after that he was diagnosed with Ideopathic Infantile Scoliosis. Some time later we found our local Shriner's Hospital and started seeing Dr. Larson. At our first visit with Dr. Larson she took an x-ray and stated that Anthony had a 100% curve in his spine. Dr. Larson specializes in children with this type of curveture and we felt very fortunate to have found her. She stated at the first visit that he would need to undergo surgical repair at some point in the future, but she was willing to give casting a try. Since Anthony was 2 years old he has been placed in Mehta casting to help correct his spinal curve. Every two months Anthony went under anesthesia to have the casts rechanged. For almost 3 years this seemed to help correct his spine and did not allow it to get greater than 100%. At his visit in April of this year after an x-ray was taken she stated that the casting had stopped working and his back had actually started to re-curve again, the time had come when surgery would be needed to correct the situation. So in August of this year we headed down to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN to have MAGEC Rods implanted into Anthony's back. Anthony had implanted into his back 4 screws into the lower portion with 2 rods attached to those and a set of brackets attached to his vertebrae up top. Then the rods were attached to the brackets and were supposed to have moved his spine into a straighter position. It was either the first or second day after this surgery that we noticed a bulge at the top portion of his spine. X-rays were taken again and it was determined that the brackets and the vertebrae they were attached to had broken away. It was also determined that his spine was not able to handle the pressure of being so straight and that is what caused the breakage up top. So the next day Anthony underwent another surgery to reattach the brackets to a different set of vertebrae and allow those pieces to fuse together and heal. The doctors felt at this point it would not be a good plan to attach the rods and brackets together so the rods were left free floating in his back until the brackets and vertebrae could heal. The doctors also felt he would need a cast back on so as not to allow the rods to pierce through his back, so Anthony was placed into another familiar cast for the next three months. A few days after the second surgery we were allowed to leave the hospital and go home. It was unnerving going home since we were unaware of how Anthony would be at home with these instruments in his back and also how much pain he would be in. But as always Anthony rebounded in no time and was back to being his happy, adorable 5 year old self. In October of this year we noticed that the cast was creating sores on his back along his top incision line along with that the sores were having drainage coming from them. We made an appointment and went to see one of the doctors that had assisted Dr. Larson in the first two surgeries. At that appointment the doctor did not feel like they were a problem and asked that we watch them for any further drainage or discomfort. About 3-4 weeks later I was at work and got a call from the school nurse letting me know that Anthony was with her and he had been complaining of back pain at school that day. I left work and picked him up from school, when we got home Anthony stated that he could not walk and his back hurt him. This was the first time since leaving the hospital back in August that he had complained of his back hurting him to that extent. I called Dr. Larson that day and she asked that we come down to Rochester the next day to have x-rays performed to make sure nothing had shifted or was not in a place it should not be. So Anthony and I went down and the x-rays showed that everything seemed to be in place and they were unsure why he was complaining of his back. At that appointment though I made Dr. Larson aware of the sores that had still not healed and were draining. Dr. Larson did not like these sores at all and wanted to cut the section of cast that was rubbing out to allow these sores to heal and breathe. I gave the sores a little over a week to try and heal and stop draining before I made another call to Dr. Larson to let her know this news. She asked that I send her photos of the sores so she could determine if they were getting better or worse. On Saturday I got the call from her letting us know that she was worried an infection had spread down to the rods and this was possibly the reason they weren't healing, but there would be no way of knowing for sure unless he was put under anesthesia again and his back was opened up. So on November 17th of this year we went back down to Mayo to have another surgery to determine if there was a deeper infection or just a superficial infection. I am grateful to say that he was just an infection with his sutures and nothing more serious. Anthony had new sutures placed and we are waiting for this incision to heal before we can have the rods and brackets connected. At some point in his life Anthony will have to have his spine fused, but that is hopefully many years from now. Through all the anesthesia and surgeries he has endured in his short life Anthony is never without a smile or a laugh or a joke. He has rebounded in the quickest times where if it were an adult we would be out for weeks. He is an active little boy and had never let the casts or even his surgeries slow him down. He loves riding his bike, playing baseball, going deer hunting, working on vehicles, just being a boy and each day he wakes up with a smile and is ready for the day. Anthony started Kindergarden this year and has absolutely loved it! He wakes up in the morning and is anxious to get to school, he is a very big social butterfly, which has gotten him into trouble a few times at school! But there is not enough I can say about how upbeat and always smiling and laughing I can say about him given his situation. He is a great little boy who deserves so much more than what life handed him, but he has made the best out of a poor situation and everyone who meets him falls in love with him and that lovely smile. Anthony's medical expenses for these surgeries have added up quickly and even with two parents working full-time it is hard to overcome what keeps piling up. Any money raised would help pay the past medical bills and the bills that are forthcoming concerning his additional surgeries. Any donations would mean the world to his dad and I since as I stated before we both work full-time but are overwhelmed with not only his bills but all the others that come from running a household. Thank you for your support! (The first picture below is Anthony on his first day of school! Of course all smiles and eager to get out the door. The second picture is from the first surgery at Mayo while we were in the Intesive Care Unit, he had many IVs and monitors attached to him.)