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When Brandy Rodriguez talks about her daughter Mariah, she describes a typical 12-year-old who likes to have her nails painted, listens to the Jonas Brothers, and loves to dance.
However, Mariah’s life has been anything but typical. Born with Down syndrome at 33 weeks, the 4 lb., 15 oz. infant was immediately taken to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. Ten hours later Mariah received her first surgery to repair her intestines and remove her appendix.
Over the next few years, Mariah and her family discovered many other conditions which prevented her from living a full life. At 18 months, Mariah was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, and later with asthma and sleep apnea. Mariah underwent surgery to remove her tonsils and adenoids, and have tubes placed in her ears. Although the surgery improved Mariah’s condition, she still had problems with her breathing. With determination and persistence, Mariah’s mother sought help in the pediatric medical community, leading her to craniofacial surgeon Saswata Roy, MD, who agreed that Mariah needed further treatment to improve her breathing. Last summer, Dr. Roy successfully performed craniofacial surgery and her breathing significantly improved, bringing her a new outlook and allowing her to do the fun activities every 12-year-old enjoys.
Mariah and her family credit the success of her treatment to the confidence and professionalism of the Wolfson team of physicians and staff, who treated Mariah as the special patient she is and helped give her a much better quality of life.
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