Christine Danks

My name is Christine Danks.  I was born on November 14, 1988 at Sacred Heart Hospital.  I was born at 27 weeks, making me three months premature.   I was born with a trachea esophageal fistula, which is when the esophagus is not connected to the stomach.  I spent the first five months of my life in the NICU and in was in these months that Dr. Jimmy Jones reconnected the two ends of my esophagus.  I may not remember these first months of my life, but my parents will never forget.  There were so many wonderful people that cared not only for me, but for my parents as well.  Lyn Boland was one of my usual nurses.  She preferred to work nights and thus was there at the same time my parents visited.  She made sure that my parents were as involved as possible, all of the nurses did.  My parents would come in after work and would find Polaroid’s clipped to the bed detailing what I had been doing that day.  Every nurse in the NICU worked hard to include my parents in my everyday routine.  I was released from the hospital during the day shift, and although she hated days, Lyn switched her schedule around so she could be the one to send me off.  I think that these are the reasons that convinced my parents to make her my godmother.

After the reconnect, I required dilitations every two months for two years.  Over these years, I was punctured twice and needed surgery to fix a collapsed lung.  Countless surgeries/procedures later… I burned up the bottom of my native esophagus.  Dr. Jones went back to active duty military and he referred me to Dr. James Talbert at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, FL.  In 1991, just before I turned three, Dr. Talbert performed a colonic interposition.  He took a piece of colon and flared it up, or moved it, and made me a new esophagus.  At this point in my life I had had 80ish surgeries.  For the next 10 years, I had very few complications and thus had minimal surgeries.  The anastimosis site or the site where the native meets the colonic interposition was only dilated a few times in conjunction to my growth spurt.  Then puberty hit. 

As with most girls, 13 or 14, my body started to change.  In a normal person this means growth spurts and wacky hormones.  However, for me it meant a little more.  In February 2004, I was ninth grade.  I stated having lots of pain and distention in my stomach.  I was unable to attend school and ended up on Hospital Homebound and later on, Florida Virtual School as well.  The past few years have brought the surgery count well into the hundreds.  A few years ago I received a gastric stimulator, which is basically a pace maker for your stomach.  I think that one of my most unusual surgeries/conditions is my splenectomy.  About six months ago my surgeon, Dr. Mike Chen, discovered that I had two full sized spleens.  The dual spleen is uncommon by itself, but he had never seen two completely full sized spleens.  One of them was “sick” and had to be removed.  It always makes me laugh to say, “I had a splenectomy but I still have a spleen.” 

I still live in Pensacola with my parents and my younger sister.  I am currently enrolled at PJC and am pursuing an English degree.  I hope to one day teach high school English.  I would also like to be a counselor for children going though the same struggles that I faced.  I rarely share my story, but I have really been feeling led to start doing so.  I used to be very shy and this is me.  This story is my life; it is what makes me me.  Thank you for giving me this opportunity.  I admire all of you and appreciate you guys sharing.  I don’t think that words are enough to tell everyone how much I appreciate them and how they touched and influenced my life.