March 2023 Special Needs Living Akron/Canton

A MILLION-DOLLAR BABY…LITERALLY!

Meet Kameryn Swanson

WRITTEN BY ANDREA HURR PHOTOGRAPHY BY JULIAN CURET

Kameryn had complications at birth and was born 6 weeks prematurely which caused him to be transferred to another hospital and spend time in the NICU unit. Upon being released from the hospital he had to be on an Apnea monitoring system for months and had many challenges as a baby. Apnea is breathing that slows down or stops and some babies need to be connected to a monitoring system so that their heart rate and breathing can be monitored with an alarm that will sound if the baby stops breathing. Fast forward to age 4 and Kameryn suffered a traumatic brain injury and was airlifted to Akron Children’s Hospital where he spent almost a month in the PICU in a coma and on life support. When he woke up from his coma he was transported to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. Kameryn stayed there for 3 months to recover and then came home and spent another 3 months attending day rehab through Akron Children’s. He had to relearn how to walk, talk and eat. He was starting all over. For years he had to have a feeding tube with thickening liquids and had to endure multiple surgeries since 2011. He is truly a miracle! His mom used to joke about him being a million-dollar baby, not knowing if that would end up being true at the time.

This past summer (2022) was the first time since 2011 that he didn’t have therapy and had minimal appointments to attend. Kameryn will always have lifelong challenges and has permanent disabilities, but now at age 16 he volunteers at a local church, participates in after-school programs, and a horse program. He can be spotted at the Tuslaw Spirit Shop selling school merchandise at sporting events.

Mom Melissa offers up the advice to be your child’s own advocate and voice.

“Never stop fighting,” she says. Melissa is always researching ways to help him. She is currently trying to get him more involved with other people besides his family so he can work on his social skills, this is something that Kameryn loves. Melissa says to find people to talk to who are in a similar situation. “Sometimes being a special needs parent is lonely and the only people who truly understand what it is like are other special needs parents.”

Kameryn admires his Grandma Julie so much. “She is always there for me when I need someone to talk to and she helps decrease my anxiety,” he says. He loves spending the summer and days off school with her. It’s awesome that he has this great support from his family. This amazing young man hopes to get a job at Buehler’s one day.