06/18/2026
🐦🔥 Warrior Wednesdays Spotlight 🐦🔥
We celebrate and recognize the ones who still fight, and those whom fought hard until the end.
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Every child matters.
Every family matters.
Every story matters.
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No matter the boundaries.
No matter the struggles.
No matter the story.
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This is our why
To connect, uplift, and empower families. To help those families facing medical storms be reminded that they are seen, they are very much loved, they never have to do this alone again - one story, one soul, one thread at a time.
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The support is there for these families with Hope Warriors:
Hold On, Pain Ends.
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Let's spread the love, the awareness, the encouragement, the hope, and the legacy of our Warriors!
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Together, no matter where we live, we are Hope Warriors, where families facing medical challenges find rest, renewal, and unwavering support - where Hope is not merely offered but actively lived, ensuring no family carries their burden alone!
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https://hopewarriorsinc.org
🐦🔥The Flaterud Family- Canada 🇨🇦
This is our story of our life with a medical child. My name is Conrad, my wife is Markie, our oldest son is Avery and Jackson is our medical child and our youngest is Sawyer. Our son Jackson was born with a rare genetic condition called Nager’s. The effects of this syndrome are underdeveloped bones, in Jackson’s case his jaw is smaller than normal and recessed, his bones are fused at his elbows, he is missing both of his thumbs, abnormal kidneys and his ears weren’t fully developed causing him to have severe hearing loss. Because of this Jackson needs a tracheostomy to breath, a g-tube to eat and bone conducting hearing aids. Since, Nager’s is extremely rare it takes a lot of advocating as it can be easily brushed off as other conditions.
When my wife Markie was pregnant with Jackson, we were told at the
12-week ultrasound that our baby was healthy “ten fingers, ten toes” the
ultrasound tech said, the doctor had told us the head shape looked great
and there was NO way our baby had any genetic condition. Then at the
20-week ultrasound, they couldn’t find his thumbs, she had to go back
for ultrasound after ultrasound – it actually wasn’t confirmed until he
was born that he didn’t have thumbs.
It wasn’t until she was 26 weeks pregnant that we got in to a specialist
and they didn’t have much information other than there was more amniotic fluid than normal and they thought he had a recessed chin but we really didn’t understand what that meant. We were in a bit of shock and just trying to process all of it. The doctor took Markie off work and we were scheduled for a follow up in 4 weeks.
At the next ultrasound Markie was 29 weeks and 6 days, they told Markie she was in labour, 4cm dilated and they quickly got her over to labour and delivery. There were no signs or labour pains- they were surprised and checked multiple times. I was currently working in Estevan and got the call and got to the hospital as soon as I could and because they were able to give her medications to slow the labour, I was able to make it. Jackson was born in Regina on July 20, 2023, at 30 weeks old, we heard him cry and for a minute and thought everything was okay.. that faded quickly as we turn to see him and the NICU team was there unable to intubate him and he was turning blue. His airway was too narrow, his jaw was recessed because of Nager’s and his age and size it made it extremely difficult to get a secure airway, we watched as his oxygen saturation would drop to 10%, there were so many professionals working on him but none that had experience working on a baby like this. The adult ENT told us if he were to attempt to put a trach in that he would most likely die, and the pediatric ENT for
Saskatchewan was not available that day. So, they would need to airlift
him, but they couldn’t do that without a secure airway. Finally, they
were able to get him intubated temporarily, and airlifted him to
Edmonton, which would become our home for the next three and a half
months.
We were in the right hands when we got to Edmonton, they were able to
get an actual airway, and he was put on a ventilator to help him breath.
Because Jackson suffered so much oxygen deprivation at birth it effected
other parts of his body. He ended up with a perforated bowel resulting in
an ileostomy, as well he had a grade 3 brain bleed in one area and grade
2 bleed in another area of the brain. He was too little to have a
tracheostomy put in they wanted him to be at least 2.5kg and he was
only 1.6kg. He got the Trach put in near the end of August and then they
put a g-tube in and reversed the ileostomy in September. As we were
approaching the subject of getting back to Saskatchewan his heart rate
started to drop from his normal 140 beats per minute to 40-50. This meant another surgery, his PDA valve never closed properly requiring
heart surgery to fix it. November 6, 2023, we did finally make it to
JPCH PICU in Saskatoon.
We stayed at the Ronald McDonald house in Saskatoon. I was able to
work out of Saskatoon which was such a blessing because this was so
hard on us mentally, emotionally, spiritually but also financially- it was
really hard to leave my family and we had some support through a Go
Fund Me but I needed to get back to work. (Also, we were transferred to
Saskatoon instead of Regina because Regina doesn’t have a PICU and
couldn’t have a child with a trach on a ventilator). At this point- we got
comfortable and started planning Christmas and thoughts were crossing
our minds like ‘we will be able to spend Christmas at home as a
family’… then Jackson got sick. He had so many lines in for many
different medications. The line on his right inguinal area became
infected, fungal(yeast) infection in the blood. Quickly he turned for the
worse and went septic into multisystem organ failure, his ventilator
settings were maxed they were doing everything they could. The doctor
told us in their experience this wasn’t survivable and that we should
prepare ourselves. But every day that went by the doctors were shocked,
and by the grace of God he was saved. We ended up spending Christmas
in the PICU at JPCH but during that time Jackson was recovering and
got off of his ventilator for the first time ever! We were soon transferred
to the pediatric ward and then on February 15, 2024, he was flown to
Regina RGH. We continued to wean him off as many medications as
possible before coming home. We were able to get night home care set
up. May 1, 2024, after 287 days in hospital he was discharged and we
took Jackson home.
We are so happy he is home with us; we do everything we can for him to
live as normal a life as possible, but the reality is that he has challenges which mean we have challenges. We all went through something very
traumatic and now we must learn how to function again but also take
care of a baby/toddler with special needs. We ended up getting night
care 5 nights a week (but inconsistent), to this day if we don’t have night care we get about 2-3 hours sleep. Our social worker told us in some countries that sleep deprivation is a form of torture, and this has stuck with me because when our nurse goes on vacation it’s like we are completely different people. We do our best to go on family outings but
even a quick trip to the store requires emergency bags, his suction
machine and his feeding supplies. It’s the stares you get from people
when we need to suction him that weigh heavy on us. We don’t travel as
he has a special bed and special equipment that is not easy to transport, also, we have to be careful as elevation changes can affect his breathing which means we need to bring his oxygen tanks. In short, we may need to rent a small u-haul just for a family trip to Calgary. Because we don’t have a lot of people who can take care of a child with a trach we are
lucky if we get 2 date nights a year.
This last winter, which felt like 5 winters in one, and as if spring would
never come, we had another 3 hospital stays each about a week long.
Most days we feel like medical professionals first, then parents. We feel stuck, like no one really understands what it’s like. Then our oldest son, who is 4 now, is acting out and showing signs of autism but it’s not autism. PTSD in children has the same symptoms. Which is hard to
explain to people and get him the support he needs. Our days consist of
constant advocating for both boys, arranging appointments/going to
appointments, ordering supplies and keeping inventory, we also have no
real way to communicate with Jackson because he can’t speak, he is
missing thumbs which makes ASL a little challenging, and we keep
trying to get him to eat food through his mouth even though he gags
every single time we try. We are told that one day he will get used to it.
It’s a part time job in itself and we are just burnt out. This trip is where I
can be heard and understood in a way that only someone who has gone
through it can relate and there is comfort in that. It is also a way I can grow my community and make real connections.
🐦🔥Conrad will be a part of the Dads Hangout Retreat for the 2026 year! To finally get that much needed break and to be surrounded by other medical dads who get it! 🐦🔥
