Tecumseh man able to witness daughter’s birth after brain surgery saves his life

TECUMSEH, Okla. (KFOR) — A young man living in Tecumseh was afraid he wouldn’t get to witness his daughter’s birth due to several symptoms, from migraines to vision issues, that had him at a loss with no doctor able to figure out what was wrong.

That was until one doctor did, and it saved his life.

On Thursday morning, 22-year-old Hudson Haskins shared precious moments with his very young daughter Bobbie. Those moments, though, are something he and his family at one point weren’t sure would even happen.

“I’m just so incredibly thankful,” Haskins said.

Haskins was in high school, only a junior about five years ago, when he started having migraine headaches.

“I just couldn’t focus in class and I was falling asleep in class, which was just weird,” he said. “These migraines that were like, so bad that, you know, I’d get sick.”

Over time, it got worse. He started experiencing issues with speech, seeing double vision and ringing in his ear.

“I had my mom worrying that I was on drugs or something like that,” he said.

Multiple doctor’s visits later, Haskins had several different diagnoses and medications that never took care of it. Until one visit, a doctor checked the pressure on his eyes.

“His face dropped, and he got really serious and then I was like, oh, this isn’t good,” Haskins said.

Needing it fixed quickly, OU Health neurosurgeon Dr. Christopher Graffeo performed a minimally invasive procedure last June that allowed them to drain it. Haskins’s daughter was born just a week later.

“I got to be there for the birth and enjoy all of that,” he said.

Now, he cherishes the moments like those on Thursday even more, especially since he’s had no symptoms since his surgery.

“He’s going to have a normal life expectancy,” Graffeo said. “So, you know, nothing better than that.”

“It’s opened so many other opportunities for me to find things that I love and I enjoy,” Haskins said. “I get to come home and see that cute little smiling face every day, too.”

Haskins said after surgery, his incision site got infected, and he got MRSA. Luckily, they were able to get that taken care of and he is doing alright.

Haskins said he credits his entire support system for being there for him. Even through all of that, he still attended classes at OU where he works in the admissions office as well giving tours. He’s set to graduate summa cum laude in May.

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