Homecoming: After a hospital stay for all of his 5 months, Bodhi Ward comes home

Photostanner Mondok, The Herald, Sharon, Pa.
·2 min read

Apr. 25—On Tuesday, 5-month-old Bodhi Ward left the only home he had ever known for an actual home he had never seen.

But if the smile he unveiled for his family was any indication, he had no trouble adjusting. Bodhi, born prematurely Nov. 17, had been in hospital care — mostly at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh — his entire life. That changed on Tuesday, when he came home for the first time.

Bodhi arrived home to a chalked message of love from his sisters — Aubree Contera, 3, and Sofia Contera, 6 — and a bedroom dedicated to his family's love of the outdoors. He was diagnosed in utero with spina bifida, a condition where the fetus' spine fails to develop properly. He needs a tracheostomy tube for breathing and a gastrostomy tube for feeding. At home, he will need around-the-clock nursing care to ensure that the breathing and feeding tubes function normally. But that hasn't extinguished his spirit, said his mother, Ashley Boulanger. "He's our little ray of sunshine," she said. "He loves attention."

On Tuesday, 5-month-old Bodhi Ward left the only home he had ever known for an actual home he had never seen.

But if the smile he unveiled for his family was any indication, he had no trouble adjusting.

Bodhi, born prematurely Nov. 17, had been in hospital care — mostly at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh — his entire life. That changed on Tuesday, when he came home for the first time.

Bodhi arrived home to a chalked message of love from his sisters — Aubree Contera, 3, and Sofia Contera, 6 — and a bedroom dedicated to his family's love of the outdoors.

He was diagnosed in utero with spina bifida, a condition where the fetus' spine fails to develop properly. He needs a tracheostomy tube for breathing and a gastrostomy tube for feeding.

At home, he will need around-the-clock nursing care to ensure that the breathing and feeding tubes function normally.

But that hasn't extinguished his spirit, said his mother, Ashley Boulanger.

"He's our little ray of sunshine," she said. "He loves attention."