Benjamin Strong

Hello, the little boy in the photo is Ben. Ben is seven years old and was born with not one but TWO rare conditions. The first disease is nephrotic syndrome and second is moyamoya. Ben was first diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome when he was three years old and his twin sister was diagnosed with a milder case of nephrotic syndrome as well. Soon after at the age of five Ben suffered from a stroke and was diagnosed with moyamoya. Moyamoya is blockages in the veins that get blood to the vessels in your brain. The lack of blood causes a stroke and can be deadly without major surgery. Ben suffered a second mild stroke on Wednesday November 6, 2019 and was flown by helicopter to Sanford Childrens Hospital in Fargo, ND for surgery. On Friday November 8, 2019 the vein the surgeons repaired failed and he suffered a third stroke and was rushed into emergency surgery. The surgeons placed an angioplasty balloon for a temporary fix. Ben's parents were then given a choice to leave the balloon and he would eventually suffer another stroke or they could do another major surgery. Saturday November 9, 2019 Ben went under for his third brain surgery in four days. A team of five surgeons harvested a vein from his forearm and used it to connect a main vein to the other vessels in his brain.  The exceptionally talented team of surgeons at Sanford were successful but Ben still has a very long road of recovery and rehabilitation ahead of him. Ben lost most of his ability to speak and majority of movement on the right side of his body. As of Tuesday November 12, 2019 Ben has begun physical, speech, and occupational therapy. However, three major brain surgeries and all of the therapy and care to come in the future are not cheap. All donations would be greatly appreciated by all of us on #teamben but especially his parents and grandparents. Brittany Nadeau is bens mother.