Matthew A. Hauf
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Matthew was born on October 22, 1995 a healthy 10 lb. 1 oz. Three weeks later he was diagnosed with whopping cough and we almost lost him. He was admitted to our local hospital and later transferred to University Hospital. He had stopped breathing during a coughing spell and need to be intubated. Once at University Hospital they attempted to take him off the vent but without success. It was then determined that the best course of action would be a tracheostomy until the whopping cough cleared up. In January 1996, Matthew went in for a bronchoscopy. It was then found he had a subglottic stenosis. Decannulation was not possible at that time. Three and a half years later and many bronchoscopies, Matthew was successfully decannulated, without needing any surgery, in March of 1999. It has now been ten months and Matthew has done extremely well. He will need surgery to completely close the trach site in May but that is small compared to all that he has conquered in his short life. Matthew means "gift from God" and he truly is our gift from God.
