Imagine watching your new child have a difficult time breathing, even stop breathing. That’s what the Peterson family of Layton, Utah dealt with when their son Garrett, who was born in 2012, had a defective windpipe. It was an emotional and physical challenge at first, but 3D printing wins again.
In the beginning, Garrett’s windpipe would periodically just collapse, because the cartilage was so soft. As a result, he would just stop breathing. This would happen every day. Sometimes multiple times a day.
“It was really awful to have to watch him go through his episodes,” his father, Jake Peterson told NPR. “He’d be fine and then all of a sudden start turning blue. It was just like watching your child suffocate over and over again.”
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Doctors didn’t know if they could keep him alive. He spent more than a year in intensive care.
“Garrett was so sick in the hospital and we — we really, really thought we were going to lose him,” remembers his mother, Natalie Peterson. “The doctors were telling us, you know, that there really wasn’t anything more they could do.”
As soon as the Peterson’s heard about 3D printers being used by doctors to create “splints” that open up defective windpipes at the University of Michigan, they didn’t hesitate to make the trip to Ann Arbor.
Garrett got the splint and has made major improvements.
“He can breathe — like, on his own completely,” said Natalie. “It’s so nice just to hear him breathe … to be able to hear him take big deep breaths and things that we never knew he’d be able to do.”
Garrett also had improvements with heart and digestive system problems from before.
“It’s just been amazing to see how much it’s helped him,” Jake said. “It’s just been completely night and day.”
