Morgan's World
Morgan Jubal Letts  McCormick
My name is Morgan and I want to tell you a little bit about myself.  I was born with trisomy 18, actually a partial trisomy 18.  That means that all the cells in my body have part of an extra chromosome 18.  I have an unbalanced chromosome translocation that caused this to happen.  I am also missing a small segment of chromosome 9.  When I was born I had esophageal atresia and a t.e. fistula.  This means my esophagus was not connected to my stomach.  I also had sepsis (a fever of unknown origin) and was severely jaundiced.  Lots of kids who are born with trisomy 18 have heart and renal problems, luckily I didn't.  The drs. still didn't think I would make it to the end of my first week of life.  You see, trisomy 18 is very often a fatal disorder.  The statistics say that 90% of babies born with it will not make it to their first birthday.  When I was 10 days old the drs. decided to repair my esophagus.  I came through the surgery with flying colors.  They also placed a g-tube (a button tube from the surface of my body directly into my stomach) so that it would be easier for mommy and daddy to feed me.  Unfortunately, I developed a post surgical problem called chylothorax (it is a hole in the thoracic duct.)  This went undetected for over a week and I began to have breathing problems.  The drs. told my mommy and daddy that the end was probably near, but a very good radiologist discovered that there was fluid in my chest cavity that was causing the breathing problems and the drs. were able to fix me up again.  Finally, after 6 wks. in the NICU I was able to come home.  I had beaten the odds, at least for the time being.  Once at home I continued to thrive.  Life isn't always easy for the three of us, but mommy and daddy love me so it doesn't matter that much.  I am learning new things all the time, it just takes me longer.  What other people take for granted is harder for me to do.  I hope I can help other kids like me.  If their parents read this maybe I will be able to give them courage not to give up.
See How I've Grown
MY PAGES
Halloween Pictures
School Days
Poems & Such
My 4th Birthday
My 5th Birthday
Horseback riding
School 2002
School 2002-2003
Please visit my Caringbridge page for recent updates and new pictures.  
Click on the trisomy 18 logo at left.