LORINA | TEXAS

“When I was pregnant with my son JJ, an ultrasound technician told me his head was measuring two weeks larger than normal. I was concerned, but neither of the physicians I was seeing mentioned their concerns and I thought everything was going to be ok.

When JJ was born, his head was still measuring larger than normal and continued to measure larger than normal in the following months. He had excessive vomiting and his pediatrician, urgent care physician, and an ER doctor at a children’s hospital all misdiagnosed him with a stomach virus.

Then, when my son was only five months old, his pediatrician suggested that JJ have a MRI because she noticed his head was still measuring larger than normal.

After the MRI, we received news from the children’s hospital that would affect our lives forever: we were told that the child abuse pediatrician saw fluid in my son’s MRI and believed he was a victim of Shaken Baby Syndrome. I told the pediatric neurosurgeon that my son was never hurt in any way, could this be something else (such as a medical condition)? He said yes, but since he’s a baby and can’t talk we are just going to go with abuse and he walked away.

The doctors would not listen to us. When I asked for a second opinion and for my son to see a neurologist, they said no, we don’t feel that it is necessary.

The children’s hospital reported us for child abuse to CPS and CPS wrongfully took my two sons from me. The judge refused to give temporary custody of our children to family members. We were only allowed to see our boys two days a week for two hours each time. Five month old JJ would cry all day in foster care. He missed several appointments with his neurosurgeon because CPS moved the placement of our sons three times in only five months within the foster care system. My oldest son, who was four at the time, was traumatized from being taken from us and lost 20 lbs in only six weeks. His pediatrician also stated that he showed signs of depression from being separated from his parents.

My children’s father was wrongfully charged with two felonies of injury to a child and lost his government and military security clearance and his job. We had to sell our house to pay for the mounting attorneys' fees.

Finally, after five months in foster care, my children were returned to me and the family court case was dismissed after a year. It took another two and a half years for my children’s father's criminal court case to be dismissed.

It turns out, JJ had a birth injury (that the hospital had hidden) and a medical condition called Benign External Hydrocephalus (BEH) which is when spinal fluid builds up outside of the brain and causes swelling (also called BESS).

No words can express the emotional trauma, stress, and financial ruin for the fight to regain custody of our children and to clear my children’s father from the wrongful charges. This will affect us for the rest of our lives as we try to continue to heal from the misdiagnosis, wrongful accusations, and wrongful removal.

I’ve since joined in efforts with other falsely accused families in Texas and across the US to lobby lawmakers and raise awareness of the misdiagnosis of abuse and the devastating outcomes it can have. I’ve also written and published a book about our experience called ‘Miracles of Faith.’ Despite the extreme challenges of our circumstances, we had to stay strong and not give up. Now, we can take our terrible situation and what we have learned and help others in similar situations.”