OXFORD, Miss. — Just a few miles away from Oxford’s historic downtown square, if you listen you’ll almost hear the healing power of music in a song.
The song “Lonesome Stray” was played by the Eubanks family many times to help get them through a difficult journey, a journey also expressed in the heartfelt words of Jeff Eubanks about his son Nolan.
“This is going to harder on Holly and I, as well as our family, than it is on Nolan, we already know that. He’s tough,” Jeff Eubanks said.
A couple of years ago, Jeff logged onto to his computer and into social media to share the emotions he and his wife, Holly, were feeling at the time.
“The hardest part for Holly and I will be seeing our baby boy after surgery. Damn, it’s going to be tough,” the post said.
Not long after Nolan’s birth, this little boy who was also Jeff and Holly’s first-born, would need to have major surgery.
“I teared up from looking at the photos and I’m doing the same now as I type,” Jeff wrote.
When you you see and hear this energetic three-year-old today, along with his little brother Dylan it’s almost hard to imagine Nolan ever had anything wrong with him.
But not long after his birth, his parents noticed their ‘perfect’ little boy had an imperfection.
“I guess starting out we noticed he had a little bit of an odd configuration in his head, and we thought maybe it’s from birth, etc.,” Jeff said.
“I was like maybe it’s not that big of a deal,” Holly said. “His head is just oddly shaped right now and everything will go like it’s supposed to.”
After many doctor checkups and CT scans, the Eubanks went to see a neurosurgeon.
They recall the day they got a phone call saying Nolan had a condition called craniosynostosis and would need skull surgery.
“To get the phone call from him saying that it did look like he had the craniosynostosis and we would have to have surgery was a little alarming for me, just because he’s our first, and for something to be wrong upset me.”
Craniosynostosis happens when fibrous sutures in an infant skull fuse by turning into bone and changing the growth pattern of the skull.
To correct the issue, Nolan’s doctors recommended Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.
“It’s just one of those things. We were blessed to be where we were and only an hour away from Memphis, and to have the doctors and facilities so close is truly a blessing for us,” Jeff said.
Still, there were many prayers, many conversations and many tears before Jeff and Holly made their decision for surgery.
“I don’t know who cried first, me or Holly. I just remember they were drawing Nolan’s blood and it was so tough on me, and I began crying at that point.”
At six months old Nolan underwent skull surgery. It lasted for two hours and it was a success.
“But it all worked out in the end, and all for the well. As you can see him now, you would never know he had skull surgery. I think now he’s more hardheaded than he was going to be.”
One of the first things Nolan reached for after surgery was his blanket. As you can tell, he and ba-ba the blanket, as he calls it, are inseparable today.
The Eubanks are also inseparable from their music, their faith in God and their praise of the miracle work of special doctors and nurses who helped their son.
“The surgery did go well and he’s your typical little boy,” Holly said.
Nolan enjoys playing with baby brother, getting on his slide and driving his Jeep, and you can hardly tell he ever had surgery.
The Eubanks say these are all blessings were made possible because of Le Bonheur, a hospital where every child matters and a hospital where their son Nolan mattered.
“I can’t say enough about the care we received from Le Bonheur, from both the medical standpoint and just the treatment of the staff, the doctors. It was just outstanding,” Jeff said.