ODESSA, Texas —
4-year-old Jaxson Williamson loves having some fun.
"He's a little spitfire,” said physical therapist Paula Diffie. “He's so much fun, and energetic, and I love his giggle. I love his giggle. It just makes my day better.”
Jaxson was born preterm at 22 weeks. It is a rarity for children to survive being born that early.
"When children are born significantly that early, they usually always have delays in development just because they weren't given time to develop in their mother, and he really struggled to breathe because his lungs weren't developed at that time, which causes a lot of developmental issues," said Diffie.
Jaxson has been coming to the Permian Basin Rehab Center since April of last year, where he's been working weekly to make major improvements.
"The biggest progress that I've seen with him is that when I first got him, he was super shy, super backward,” said occupational therapist Madison Campbell. “The first time that I went and got him from mom for a treatment, he actually cried, so I just wanted to leave him with mom. He broke my heart, but he's a lot more energetic, a lot more playful, a lot more social and a lot more interactive.”
It's been an uphill climb for Jaxson recently. He underwent a tracheostomy procedure, and doctors are waiting until flu season is over before they fully repair the trach location.
"I did start noticing that he gets short of breath easily,” said Campbell. “It's hard for him to keep going without breaks, and it does cause a little bit of a struggle to do things that he would normally do, that would not bother him at all. So, that's just something that we adapt to as is, and maybe take some more breaks in the session, but continue to do all the fun things he likes to do, and continue to work toward goals that we set. But we just might have to do that in a different timeline."
With each visit to rehab center, Jaxson is slowly achieving those goals, one piece, at a time.
"They're doing fantastic with him here,” said Jaxson’s dad Justin Williamson. “Like I said he's showing a whole bunch of progress with being able to, you know, just kind of handle himself as you would expect a child to, as far as physicality and stuff like that goes. And they have made a lot of progress here in the short amount of time that he's been here."
Diffie and Campbell are eager to see the leaps that he'll continue to take in the future.
"Well, recently he's really shown a lot of progress in his ability to jump,” said Diffie. “Before he was kind of unwilling to jump, scared to jump, just kind of keep his feet on the ground, and now he's more willing to try new things and discover new toys, new activities, and it just lights up his face."
"I would love to see Jaxson writing a little more, that's my biggest thing with him,” said Campbell. “So, like I said, we're working on a lot of upper extremity strength, and finger strength, and things like that. And I think once he builds up a little more intrinsic finger strength, then he'll be able to write, so I think he definitely has the capability to."
For Jaxson's family, bringing their son to rehab was tough at first, but the entire process has been a blessing.
"We held on to our faith, and we had just prayers coming in from all around, and I'm just so proud to be his dad,” said Williamson.