Michelle and Tom O'Brien ``fell in love'' with their newborn Caeden. He was their precious son, perfect in all ways.
So they didn't notice all the asymmetries in his face and head until Caeden's pediatrician pointed them out, said Michelle O'Brien.
``We noticed, when he was about 4 months old, the shape of his head was slightly off, and his ears weren't symmetrical. But he was just a few months old, and we thought it would correct itself with time,'' she said.
``When we realized it wasn't going away, we got very nervous,'' said Michelle, who is the human resources director for the town of Norwood.
The pediatrician recommended they take Caeden to a neurologist at Children's Hospital in Boston. Doctors diagnosed Caeden with a condition called deformational plagiocephaly.
Plagiocephaly is a condition characterized by an asymmettrical distortion of the skull.
``When they told us, it was really scary, and we couldn't even say the name for months. But when they explained to us that it was non-life-threatening and correctable,'' it was a big relief, Michelle said.
In Caeden's case, his head was forming improperly because he was sleeping on his back and favored one side, she said.
O'Brien said she was surprised to learn the condition has become very common since the government's ``back to sleep'' campaign in the 1990s.
``Parents were encouraged to put the baby on its back when they sleep to avoid SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). My doctor said there are five times more cases (of plagiocephaly) now with the campaign. He sees more than 600 cases of it a year,'' she said.
To correct the condition, the pediatrician ordered Caeden, now 8 months old, a fitted ``cranial remolding'' helmet that will reshape his head properly, Michelle said.
The helmet has a void the skull will grow into over time - in Caeden's case, less than a year, she said.
It wasn't an easy sell for Caeden's parents.
``He showed us a picture, and I said, `I don't want to put my in child in this','' she said, laughing.
The family worked with the National Orthotics and Prosthetics Company to create Caeden's special blue helmet, she said.
``They were amazing. They were so gentle with him. They let us pick out a color, and we chose blue, but it came out purple.
``Here we are, it's our first child, he's got this great personality, and we've got to put him in this helmet, and it's purple,'' she said.
Caeden wears the helmet 23 hours a day, seven days a week, she said. It only comes off for baths and when he is being dressed, Michelle said.
Putting the ugly purple helmet on Caeden and taking him out in public was tough, his father said.
``At the first restaurant we took him out to, the waitress ignored him, she didn't know what to say,'' Tom O'Brien said. ``She thought it was a sore subject, and she just looked away.'' Other people did too.
`It was tough to see an 8-month-old experience prejudice,'' he said.
The O'Briens tried to make the best of it, thinking of ways to improve the look of the helmet with stickers, Michelle said.
She searched the Internet for ideas, and found other parents had their own child's helmet painted, she said.
``I looked up every company I could imagine, e-mailing (artists),'' Michelle said.
Within hours of sending that first batch of e-mails, Patrick Paldino, a Worcester artist who custom paints and airbrushes motorcycles at his shop, Kustom Flame, sent O'Brien a response offering to do the work for free, she said.
``I was so excited, and I couldn't believe it was immediate,'' she said.
The next day, the family visited Paldino at his shop so the artist could meet Caeden to get a sense of his personality and design the helmet to it, Michelle said.
``It was really unusual. It was us and this infant going into a motorcycle shop,'' Michelle said.
Paldino moved fast on the helmet, painting a black base ``like a motorcyclist's helmet,'' Michelle said, and adding streaks of blue.
He finished by painting ``Dad's seal of approval'' on the front: a replica of the seal of the International Association of Firefighters - Tom O'Brien is a Waltham firefighter.
``My husband is so proud to be a firefighter, so to be able to put that sticker on there made it really cool for him,'' Michelle O'Brien said.
Tom said he can't thank Paldino enough for his work on the helmet.
``He just made it easier for us to go through this,'' Tom said. ``It's not a horrible process, but it's difficult. He just made it so much easier for us. Now you don't get the look-aways, which was the worst thing for me.''
What Tom likes best about the painted helmet, he said, ``is that it's not purple.''
Michelle said she and Tom tried to pay Paldino, but he wouldn't consider it.
``The fact that he did it for us for free was just over the top,'' Tom said.
``He put aside his business for two days to do it,'' Michelle said. ``It's amazing he did that, it was so incredibly generous. I was so moved by his willingness to help us.''
What made Paldino say ``yes'' to Michelle O'Brien's request?
``I guess it was more of, I couldn't say no,'' Paldino said, recalling that his girlfriend's nephew had the same condition and had to wear a corrective helmet.
``I said, `I'll definitely do it, why not?' It definitely looked like there was a need for it. They needed something that looked good for the little guy,'' Paldino said.
It was a fun project, a bit new and different for him, he said.
``The whole thing was kind of neat. It was cute, I loved it,'' said Paldino.
Michelle O'Brien said she hopes Caeden will only have to wear the helmet for another three months.
``He's progressing really well,'' she said.
``I do not have enough words to thank Pat for this. When we'd go out for the first couple days with his bulky purple helmet, I could see people look at him, then look away,'' Michelle O'Brien said.
``But now, I have kids come up to him all the time and say, `That's cool! Where did he get that helmet?' It's great, because it gives us an opportunity to teach people why he wears it,'' Michelle O'Brien said.
To see the work Paldino did on the helmet in detail, log onto to the Kustom Flames Web site, www.kustomflames.com, under Other Projects.
Joyce Kelly can be reached at 781-398-8005 or jkelly@cnc.com.
WALTHAM —
