He was born on 6-2-94 and was a beautiful baby. He was my biggest baby weighing in at 8 lbs. 6 oz. Our other two children were 6 lbs. and 6 lbs. 8 oz. We know that God gave Danny that extra weight because he would need it. Within a week we noticed a difference in him. On taking him to our pediatrician, we realized he had not gained any weight and was not eating. He was also sleeping 16-20 hours a day without waking himself for feedings. He was very pale in color and had not had a bowel movement for seven days. Concerned as we were, our pediatrician, Dr. Brown, suggested that I stop breast feeding him and put him on formula so we could monitor how much he was getting in a 24-hour period. After a week, he still had not gained any weight and was not doing well. At this point, our pediatrician was not sure what the problem was and suggested that we take Danny to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for evaluation.

At CHOP they took a history and blood work and he was immediately hospitalized for seven days and diagnosed with NDI at seven weeks old. He had a sodium level over 150 and was dehydrated.

My brother, Tom, now 35, also has NDI and my mom was noticing significant similarities that were consistent with my brother when he was an infant. My mom was a big help in figuring out the problems with Danny with history and background of my brother. One day my mom suggested that I give Danny a bottle of water to see what he would do with it. To say the least he gulped it down with another following. He still would not drink formula (or very little). We had many things on our side and were able to diagnose very early without wasting precious time.

We were certainly not out of the woods yet. We had a number of obstacles to overcome: three separate hospitalizations, dehydration, weight loss, feeding tube, constant throwing up day and night, ER visits and many unscheduled visits to CHOP concerning his health.

That was Danny's first two years of life. Danny is now five years old and a vibrant, full of life, healthy little boy. He is registered for Kindergarten and excited to go. He is ready for any challenge and tries to keep up with his dad all the time. Danny has overcome many obstacles and we know that God has something big in store for this "little" boy of ours. We had many friends and family uplifting us in prayer during these long months and hospitalizations.

Danny is holding his own on the scale and is gaining small amounts of weight each visit. He has also grown several inches. He is even beginning to step out and eat all kinds of different foods (in tiny amounts). It is quite a struggle to this day to get him to eat consistently. He lives on a very high calorie diet. Our other biggest hurdle will be getting him to be dry through the night.

Now at 5 he weighs approximately 32 pounds. Danny takes two medications a day: Indocin and Diuril and he is seen at CHOP every three months. We must, of course, take water where ever we go and we know where every bathroom and water fountain are in every store and mall.

We had another baby, Aaron David, 21 months old, who by much prayer and God's grace, does not have NDI and is strong and healthy.

We wanted to tell Danny’s story now because we have overcome so much with him and we look forward to watching him grown, learn and enjoy life to the fullest. As well, we hope it will also encourage someone.

Happy 5th birthday Dan! Mommy and daddy love you so much.