Caring for his daughter; one deployed dad's journey

Published July 7, 2011
By Capt. Jamie Humphries
438th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Air Force members go through many ups and downs during a year-long deployment. Working long hours with few days off coupled with stressful situations at home can take a toll on a member and family.

But, what if one of your family members has a serious birth defect? A birth defect so severe, the family member has to be hospitalized for more than two months ... a condition that requires the use of a tube running from the skull to the abdomen just to relieve pressure of brain fluid? How would you cope with this situation?

It was October 2010 when Master Sgt. Joseph Herrera, 440th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron helicopter crew chief, learned his five-year-old daughter Kaliana needed to have her bladder removed and reconstructed out of her small intestine due to a defect called spina bifida.

Kaliana's bladder is neurogenic meaning it has constant spasms that do not allow it to relax and fill like a normal bladder. At the time, her urologist thought her bladder was causing the issues, however neurogenic bladder is often caused by damaged nerves due to spinal diseases such as spina bifida.

According to the Spina Bifida Association; it is a defect that involves incomplete development of the spinal cord and is the most common permanently disabling birth defect in the U.S. occurring when the spine of a baby fails to close during the first months of pregnancy. Eight babies are born in the U.S. each day with spina bifida in which there is no known cure. It can cause mental and social problems with children also having problems walking and getting around on a daily basis. Experts are not sure what causes the defect, but scientists believe that a combination of genetics and environmental factors play a contributing role.

Having assurances from doctors that pending surgery would be routine and scheduled in the future, Herrera left for his deployment. However, after only 12 days in Afghanistan, Kaliana was hospitalized and Herrera left Kabul on emergency leave for the first time.

During that time, he remained with his daughter to help care for her and support his family. When the doctors announced Kaliana would be released from the hospital the next day, Herrera returned to his deployment.

Although he's assigned to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., Herrera's family moved to California to be closer to family to help care for Kaliana. Still, doctors were puzzled by her condition.

"I had my mom to help me with my son, to keep him as stable as possible," explained Jenna Herrera, Kaliana's mother and Sgt. Herrera's spouse. "Friends and family would come bring me food and let me shower, but I couldn't leave Kali until Joe got there to make the decisions too, no one in the world knows Kaliana like we do."

What doctors and the Herrera family didn't expect was an extended stay in the hospital for Kaliana lasting 70 days.

"(Her) doctors feared for infection in her cerebral spinal fluid and put her on antibiotics," said Herrera. "After many computerized tomography scans and doctor consultations, they (doctors) decided to cut her abdomen open to find the problem."

That event drove Herrera's second emergency leave.

What doctors soon found out was that scar tissue from the tube in her abdomen had grown around her intestine and was cutting off proper digestion. During the CT scans, they also found a condition called "tethered cord," which according to experts, is not uncommon for children with Spina Bifida. This presented an obstacle as Kaliana had to get healthy enough in order for her to have spinal cord surgery performed during that same period.

In total, Kaliana has endured five surgeries lasting approximately 11 hours. Having been hospitalized at Children's Hospital of Orange County in Santa Ana, Calif., she has visited doctors experienced in the fields of neurosurgery, neurology, urology, infectious disease and gastroenterology. Through the entire ordeal, Herrera said his daughter is still a happy girl.

"She is happy and healthy and so excited to be spending time with her older brother and classmates," he said. "We are happy to get her back into occupational, speech and physical therapies, as well as school."

Just seven months after surgery, Kaliana has recovered and is doing well, and Herrera is back in the Afghanistan finishing up his deployment. He is thankful to the many doctors who treated Kaliana and is excited to see his 7-year-old son, McKinley, so they can go surfing. But most of all, he's thankful his only daughter is OK and for his wife Jenna's support in providing the necessary care needed to help Kaliana through her medical journey.

"My wife Jenna has been absolutely amazing through this whole deployment," he said. "I always tell her she has the tougher job being a military spouse. I just go to work somewhere and deal with work-related issues, but she gets her workload doubled and has to chase two kids around."

And through it all, the Herrera's learned that counting on each other to get through tough times is exactly what they needed.

"It takes two people to try and to want to make a long distance family work," said Mrs. Herrera. "Our future lies ahead of us, Joe and the Air Force take care of that. I'm in charge of our today, staying strong and healthy is what I pray for. Thanking God for each tomorrow and never looking back in sorrow."