Mighty Maverick

I’m sure most, if not all of you have heard about Mighty Maverick..Nicole Fillinger and Jon McFarland’s son and Rocco’s baby brother/BFF.

If you haven’t, Mighty Maverick was born with his skull fused together causing him to have Sagittal Craniostenosis. 1st surgery to remove and widen skull was at 4mo. It should have been done by that point, but it wasn’t. At 16mo he went back under for 2 different bolt pressure tests (the 1st one he ripped out, so 2hrs later he was back in the OR) where they found his pressure measuring super high. So, a wk later he underwent another major cranial surgery to remove more bone and replace the bone with dissolvable bolts and plates. They were promised no more surgeries! In fact, when Nicole asked about a 3rd surgery he said “we’ve never done a 3rd surgery! A 2nd surgery is unheard of because it’s usually fixed the 1st time!” Almost 2yrs later…after having another pressure test with high numbers again, there was no choice but to undergo a massive surgery. It was this or his brain would stop growing and worse! This time around they placed metal expanders with screws that stick out into his skull. The screws have to be turned twice daily for a couple of months. When it’s done, it will have expanded his head 2-3inches BIGGER!! Not only did he have that major surgery that was 12x’s harder, he started to leak cerebral spinal fluid and was taken back into surgery. Once again he was cut from ear to ear, had the back part of his entire skull removed and checked for any holes in the lining surrounding the brain. They did find some stitch them up and we started back at day one on Friday. They were having issues with getting blood and he was put under again to have a picc line put in. He still could possibly be leaking the CSF, tomorrow testing will be done and possibly another procedure. So all in all this baby has ALREADY had four MAJOR surgeries were they’ve cut him from ear to ear and removed skull and 8 surgical procedures in total!!!!! The sad part is, he still has to have more surgeries to continue to fix issues. The surgeons joke and say that Maverick has wrote a whole new medical book, that he’s literally one of a kind! They have been at the hospital in the PICU at Ruby Memorial since Monday, August 2. They are unsure when they will get to bring baby Mighty Maverick home. They miss Rocco and Rocco misses them!!

401k’s,investment portfolio’s and savings accounts have long been exhausted, along with maxing out multiple credit cards. It’s led to the point where no foreseeable options are available. Banks will not lend if the risk is too heavy in their corporate eyes, even with their heavy 24% interest rate they charge behind it knowing it will take years to pay back. 

If you can help out in any way, Mighty Maverick will forever be grateful!