Hi everyone,
For generations, little kids have strapped on pretend military helmets to fight the enemy.
Jack Ruffles, who turns one today, didn’t need to pretend last March. The enemy was all too real for the Danbury boy.
Within hours of his birth — and after an urgent helicopter ride to Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y. — Jack was wearing a silver helmet strapped to his chin as he fought for his life.
But this was no ordinary helmet.
This was three layers of water-cooled salvation, an amazing device called the Olympic Cool-Cap System that reduces a baby’s scalp temperature to about 50 degrees for 72 hours to help prevent brain cells from dying.
For Jack, it was the difference between permanent brain damage from 15 minutes of oxygen deprivation at birth, and taking his mother’s hand now as he gets ready to walk on his own.
To find out more about Jack Ruffles and his first birthday, check out my Take on Life column Wednesday.
Only in the print edition of The News-Times.
