One out of every 500 babies is born with hydrocephalus or water on the brain, making it one of the most common forms of birth defects.
"It was a normal pregnancy. We were going through with a midwife, like with our daughter," said Andrea Barno, Jacob’s mom.
"Christmas was difficult. The news we received is that there is something wrong with our son," said Brian, the young boy’s dad.
"I went for my 31 week ultrasound and they told me we need to go see a specialist, 'your son has tumors on his brain,'’ said mom Andrea.
"We saw an ultra sound with dark spots on it and without further investigation it could be tumors, to Down syndrome," said Brian.
While pregnant, Andrea and Brian Barno had to deal with the news that their unborn child may be very ill.
"I didn't know. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if he was going to be brain damaged. I didn't know if he was going to be severe enough at a point where I had to stay at home," said Andrea.
One out of every 500 babies is born with hydrocephalus or water on the brain, making it one of the most common forms of birth defects.
"Could have been in a wheel chair. He might not be able to talk or walk," Brian said.
At 39 weeks Andrea had a C-section and Jacob was born.
"They told me he had hydrocephalus and how severe, they didn't know," Andrea said.
Hydrocephalus is a condition where spinal fluid does not drain properly and collects in the head putting potentially, fatal pressure on the brain. The fluid must be drained as soon as possible.
Jacob had brain surgery at four days old. The surgery was a success, a shunt was placed in Jacob’s brain and it appeared there was no damage.
Over the past 25 years deaths related to hydrocephalus have been reduced by 50 percent.
Jacob had a shunt put in but he will never be shunt free, in fact in 50 percent of the cases, the shunt fail in the first two years.
"The shunt could clog. He could have an infection from it. There are so many different things; it's not just the hydrocephalus, that's pretty much taken care of. Now it's the problem that could go wrong with the shunt," Andrea said.
Although Jacob is hitting all of his milestones, doctors will not say he's in the clear. To give back and raise money for research, they are hosting a charity event. Other than continued checkups with a neurosurgeon, Jacob's life is pretty normal. As far as limitations, contact sports will not be in his future.
"I am looking forward to a long happy life with him. He won't be able to play football but that is ok. We'll get him a scholarship for soccer,” said Brian.