Children’s Minnesota NICU graduate thriving in miraculous recovery

(FOX 9) - It is a heartwarming reunion just in time for the holidays. A toddler, who doctors thought was not going to survive the first few hours of his life, got a chance to reunite with one of the doctors who helped save his life.

Both his medical team and parents said his recovery has been nothing short of a miracle.

Two-year-old Harrison Cody is curious and likes basketball. Harry is also a survivor. After overcoming an overwhelming bacterial infection, septic shock, a blood condition, bleeding in multiple organs, and fluid in his brain, his family didn’t know what the long-term trauma to his brain and body would be. He had undergone a procedure because he required a shunt to drain fluid from his brain. 

However, this past year, doctors delivered good news that he was out of the woods from any significant brain damage.

This past week, just in time for the holidays, Harry returned to Children’s in St. Paul not for another procedure, but just to say hello to someone special. He was able to show off just how well he was doing to one of the first doctors who cared for him in the NICU.

"He was born very, very sick with an overwhelming bacterial infection. It’s incredibly special because to have septic shock and to have the complications he had, there is a very high mortality for that," said Dr. Dany Villacis, neonatologist at Children’s Minnesota. "It’s so rewarding. This is what makes my job more incredible and the people I work with, and just makes me love the people I care for."

Born prematurely after an emergency c-section, Harry was not breathing when he was delivered.

"They took him out, and I didn’t know. So, I was waiting for them to show him to me," said Vanessa Cody, Harry’s mother. "I look at Jim, and he was like well they took him out, and you know I just cried."

"We had him baptized at about 3 a.m. that morning and waited for the inevitable," said Jim Cody, Harry’s father. "I refused to make eye contact with Dr. Dany because I thought each minute might be his last and she’d tell us it’s time."

Then one critical complication after another sent his tiny body and his family on a roller-coaster ride.

"Hypertension, sepsis and septic shock, the DIC, the ventricular brain bleed, if you look at the survival odds, all of them were 50/50 at best," said Jim.

Turns out, Harry is a fighter.

"He had a few follow-ups with Dr. Halverson, his neurosurgeon. About a year after he was born, he told us we were out of the woods in terms of some of the more serious conditions like cerebral palsy, like spina bifida," said Jim. "A credit to the doctors here, Dr. Dany, Dr. Lampland, Dr. Jordan, the neonatologists, obviously Dr. Halverson and his neurosurgical team. The nurses here, especially in the NICU unit are amazing people. There are no big worries on the horizon."

"The fact that he was able to not only recover, but also recover with minimal consequences and to be able to thrive, it’s really incredible. We can almost say it’s a miracle," said Dr. Villacis.

His parents said they are grateful the roller-coaster ride they are now on is trying to keep up with Harry.

"I feel thankful and grateful that he’s doing amazing," said Vanessa. "I mean, he’s so full of life."

Harry has been going to occupational therapy and does have ongoing appointments. The family said they received some more good news recently. Harry has a functioning spleen, so he no longer needs to take the medication he has been taking daily for his entire life.