Born at a hospital in Fort Collins, Lincoln was transferred to Children’s Hospital Colorado for emergency surgery to remove a blockage in his colon when he was only 2 days old. Later, as Lincoln recovered, he struggled to breathe. Doctors performed a tracheostomy, creating an air passage by placing a tube in his windpipe. Lincoln’s parents learned that their baby boy also had cystic fibrosis.

For the first week of his life, Lincoln was on a ventilator to assist his lungs, and his heart stopped multiple times. Doctors discovered that his left lung was overinflating and putting too much pressure on his heart, causing it to stop working. His care team made the difficult decision to take out most of Lincoln’s left lung. Ultimately, Lincoln was diagnosed with tracheobronchomalacia, a condition in which the trachea and bronchial tubes collapse, making it hard or impossible to inhale and exhale. This issue was the source of many of Lincoln’s breathing problems and, paired with his cystic fibrosis, was making him very sick. But slowly, Lincoln’s health began to improve, and he was able to leave the hospital for good when he was 10 months old. 

Since then, he’s had a few scary moments when he’s struggled to breathe or has gotten sick, requiring several overnight stays at Children’s Colorado. He’s now on a cutting-edge cystic fibrosis drug that is helping to manage his symptoms, and his doctors hope there will be a cure for the disease within Lincoln’s lifetime. Despite the tubes, machines, and doctors that have surrounded him his whole life, nothing has held Lincoln, now 4, back. He loves to run around - sometimes wearing a superhero cape – and he is also doing gymnastics.