Four-year-old Will Hayes was playing with some blocks moments before doing something that no one expected — he spontaneously burst into song, making it all the way through his ABCs for the first time.

“It was kind of a quiet moment in our class, so we just held our breath and listened to him sing,” said his teacher, Donna Bowman, in the early childhood special education classroom at Carl Junction in Missouri.

Will, a survivor of shaken baby syndrome, has made more physical, social and emotional progress in his four short years than physicians and his adoptive family ever thought possible. The boy, whose prognosis was once not much more optimistic than stagnant or vegetative, can now can walk and run, babble, sing, play and learn.

“We’re pretty amazed by his story every day,” said his adoptive mother, Lindsey Hayes.

A traumatic background

Will’s story began when he was the tender age of 2 months old. According to court records, he was delivered to the emergency room of Freeman Hospital West in Joplin, Missouri by his biological mother, Samantha Dechert, in February 2012, after he was discovered having seizures, but she left the hospital before the child was seen by a doctor. The following day, Dechert showed up with the infant at Mercy Hospital in Joplin, and he was flown to Cox Medical Center South in Springfield in critical condition.

A physician who treated Will at the Springfield hospital testified later in Jasper County Circuit Court that the baby had extensive bleeding on the brain, bilateral retinal hemorrhaging and seizures due to interruptions to electrical impulses in the brain. He also told the court that the injuries were consistent with the baby having been shaken and suffering from abusive head trauma, also known as shaken baby syndrome.

Shaken baby syndrome is a type of inflicted traumatic brain injury that happens when a baby is violently shaken, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a division of the National Institutes of Health. The shaking of infants, who typically have large heads supported by weak neck muscles, makes the brain bounce inside the skull and causes bruising, swelling and bleeding.

Injuries of shaken baby syndrome include subdural hemorrhages (bleeding in the brain), retinal hemorrhages (bleeding in the retina), damage to the spinal cord and neck, and fractures of the ribs and bones. Victims tend to have a worse prognosis than those suffering from accidental brain injuries; retinal damage can cause blindness, and the majority of infants who survive severe shaking will have some form of neurological or mental disability, the national institute said.

One in four babies suffering from shaken baby syndrome dies as a result of the abuse, according to The Arc, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Head trauma is the most frequent cause of permanent damage or death among abused infants and children, and shaking accounts for a significant number of those cases, the group said.

It was largely a discomfort with those injuries and prognosis that made Lindsey and Walter Hayes initially reluctant to foster Will when state officials called them. They weren’t sure if they were prepared to handle Will’s extensive medical issues, and they also already had three children, two of whom were fosters. But they ultimately agreed to take him under their care.

His prognosis, they quickly learned, wasn’t good. At less than a year old, Will could briefly sit up with assistance from his foster parents, but he couldn’t make eye contact or hold a bottle. The neurosurgeon told them that every part of Will’s brain was damaged, and that his vegetative state might be all he would ever achieve. There was also a diagnosis of cerebral palsy that doctors were sure was caused by his head trauma.

It was a lot to accept. But that was OK with Walter Hayes. It was slowly dawning on him that he wanted Will to stay.

“We were beginning to fall for him,” he said. “We were hoping he would be part of our family.”

‘Something clicked’

It was a long, hard road for the Hayes family at first. Will had frequent medical appointments in Springfield that had to be kept, and the couple had to learn how to balance his needs with the needs of their other children. As foster parents, they had undergone training to prepare for a special needs child, but it was a nearly constant struggle to figure out what worked for him and what didn’t.

“We just knew that we wanted to try as much as we could,” Walter Hayes said. “I think that’s why we connected with him.”

The couple would soon see the rewards of their dedication and devotion to the child. When Will was about 15 months old, he suddenly became more mobile than he had ever been.

“I feel like something in his brain clicked,” Lindsey Hayes said. “He crawled, he pulled up on the mantle and scooted across the mantle in about a four-day time period, and we were just amazed.”

By spring 2013, when Will was about 18 months old, something happened that the couple had been cautioned by doctors might never happen. Walter Hayes, like the proud dad that he is, keeps a video on his smartphone as proof: The toddler, gripping a small shopping cart-style toy, took his first steps with the assistance of his foster mother.

“The walking thing was huge because I think it’s safe to say we never thought he would walk,” Lindsey Hayes said.

In February 2014, Will’s biological mother pleaded guilty to a charge of felony child abuse and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The following month, Will’s adoption with the Hayes family was finalized, much to their delight.

Now an active 4-year-old, Will spends his time running around his parents’ house in Carl Junction. 

He also loves his four siblings, who range in age from 4 to 8 and were all adopted as well. To them, Will is just a little brother; they are protective of him, but they also like to wrestle and roughhouse with him, the parents said.

“All of our kids love him,” Lindsey Hayes said. “We know that as a special needs child, there are going to be some challenges growing up, but him having big brothers and sisters kind of put us at ease with that.”

Walter Hayes added, “He’s brought a lot more understanding to our kids to be more accepting of others. I think it’s just opened their eyes to a whole different situation.”

‘He surprises us’

The next milestone for Will is speaking, which remains his most developmentally delayed area. His mother said he can count to 13 (in his own way) and hum, and he is constantly vocalizing sounds, shrieks and laughs. One of the most significant challenges facing the Hayes family is communicating with Will, as it is sometimes difficult for them to understand what he wants and needs.

He doesn’t talk — not yet, anyway, and not with words. His parents are prepared to accept that this might be as much progress as Will ever makes, but based on how far he has already come, they believe his future holds even more surprises.

“Honestly, it’s almost daily he does something we didn’t know he could do,” Lindsey Hayes said.

Bowman, Will’s teacher, said he started as a pupil at the early childhood education center as a 3-year-old, but developmentally he was like an infant who didn’t do much beyond lay on the floor. With patience and attention from not only herself, but also a team of aides and therapists, Will now moves throughout the classroom, pays attention to flash cards and can identify the letters and pictures that go along with the ABCs.

“We all are working together to bring out the best in Will,” Bowman said. “He always amazes us because we think this is his plateau, this is the best he can do, and then he surprises us with going a little bit further and doing a little bit more.”

Amanda Dickerson, a pediatrician with Freeman Health System, has cared for Will since he was born. She saw him when he was a healthy newborn with his biological family, and the Hayeses returned him to her care after he left the intensive care unit.

“He’s such an amazing little guy,” she said. “His injuries were really severe. When he was brought back to me, we weren’t sure what he would be capable of.”

Dickerson said the survival and growth of babies who have been shaken is “very case dependent” based on the severity of the injuries and the parts of the brain that have been damaged. But the key that she believes has helped Will the most — his adoptive parents, who have made sure that they have gotten him to every medical appointment and therapy session.

“In Will’s case, the parents made the difference,” she said. “If you have a child that comes in with a parent that doesn’t take it seriously, those kids aren’t going to do as well. Lindsey (took it seriously), and because of her, he’s now where he is today.”

Dickerson said she has always tried to remain “cautiously optimistic” about Will’s recovery, encouraging his family to look beyond his limitations.

“The brain is a weird thing, and kids can overcome things we don’t expect them to,” she said. “Will has turned into this beautiful little man who has made everybody think twice.”

For their part, the Hayeses don’t know how the rest of Will’s story will be written. But they are glad that they are able to be part of it.

“He’s a lot of happiness,” Lindsey Hayes said of her son. “He can make you laugh several times a day. You can come home exhausted after a bad day at work, and he’s just so loving.”

Younker writes for The Joplin (Missouri) Globe.