Meet William
Born via emergency C-section at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies, doctors quickly discovered William’s umbilical cord had wrapped around his neck three times. A skilled team immediately fought to revive him, as he had been without oxygen or a heartbeat for 15 minutes. Doctors diagnosed William with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a type of brain injury caused by the lack of oxygen at birth. He then spent 18 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) receiving life-saving care.
Follow-up care at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children helped William grow and meet developmental milestones. Diagnosed with a speech delay and later autism, he began speech, occupational and physical therapies at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Rehabilitation. Today, William is a talkative, imaginative kid who loves Pokémon and performing. His family credits his progress to the dedicated care teams who never gave up on him.