He is no stranger to hospitals, having visited them many times since being born nine years ago with a depleted immune system. This year's holiday appeal marks the 32nd year of The Ledger's Newspaper with a Heart campaign. There are no overhead costs.
Gifts are tax-deductible.
Yet none of those trips prepared him or his family for the past month. He had surgery Oct. 26, for a condition called Arnold-Chiari malformation or deformity, at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Excess cerebellum, part of the brain next to the brainstem, was pressing on the brainstem, causing him to have severe headaches and poor coordination. Traveling with Patrick for surgery and staying home as he recovers has kept Tracey Crossno, his mother, from her clerical job at The Polk County Democrat newspaper in Bartow. Crossno, a graduate of Mulberry High School, last worked full time in early October.