Eight-year-old Landon Daniels, a beloved Riviera Beach Elementary student, is recovering from emergency brain surgery that took place on December 26.
This past June, Landon was on the baseball field and began continuously striking out and missing balls – not a normal occurrence for the Lake Shore GraySox travel team player. On June 14, Landon struck out twice and came off the field in tears, telling his father, Justin Daniels, that he was seeing two of everything and had to close one of his eyes in order to catch the ball.
On June 15, Landon went to see his pediatrician, who sent him to see an ophthalmologist, who sent him to see a neurologist, who then sent him for an MRI. Shortly after, Landon’s parents, Hailey and Justin, received a phone call with news that no parent ever wants to hear. Landon had a cavernous malformation, which is a cluster of abnormal, tiny blood vessels and larger, stretched-out, thin-walled blood vessels filled with blood and located in the brain. They were told to bring Landon to the children’s hospital immediately. Doctors determined the best course of action was to monitor Landon over time, as surgery would almost certainly leave Landon with neurological and physical disabilities.
By September, the bleeding on Landon’s brain had doubled in size. The doctors were shocked that Landon’s only symptoms were headaches, double vision and his eyes had gone cross eyed.
On December 14th, the blood on Landon’s brain had tripled in size and was putting an excessive amount of pressure on his brain stem. Although Landon’s symptoms now included some leg weakness and facial paralysis, the doctors were amazed with Landon and said his symptoms should be significantly worse, considering the change they saw on the MRI. Surgery was not deemed necessary as the bleeding was not becoming more excessive. Landon was scheduled for brain surgery on Jan 2, 2024.
However, over the next 5 days, Landon’s symptoms progressed to include difficulty walking, standing with occasional falls, increased facial paralysis, drooling, difficulty swallowing and going to bed crying each night from a headache. Due to his symptoms worsening, he was scheduled for emergency surgery on December 26th.
As of December 27, Landon is still recovering from the surgery, but is responsive. Doctors hope to start therapy as soon as possible and are positive about his recovery.
According to Landon’s GoFundMe page, parents Hailey and Justin are now navigating how to balance life with their 4 young boys, a child with a serious medical condition, and work. Landon’s father, Justin, was let go from his job of 5 years due to missing time for Landon, and is now working several part-time jobs overnight so that he and his wife can alternate caring for their boys.
A GoFundMe page – https://www.gofundme.com/f/f8mjjm-landon?fbclid=IwAR1a4zu2MYIF9JqmPVpT3Rx0xIkboxfbyzXFDZpl5tB4KQ4sgM0p40i-Yn8 – was set up by close friends in an effort to raise funds for Landon’s medical bills and expenses. Another way to help the family, according to Landon’s aunt Christina Fracasse, is to provide a meal through an organized meal train. To sign up for a meal slot, visit https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/nv37q6.
