Polar Express Wish Comes True
for JSU Staff Member's Son

By Jennifer Bacchus
News Staff Writer
06-18-2008

Reprinted here in its entirety.

‘Dr. Schwentker’s Greatest Creation’

Trinton Prater was born without a right ear. One was built for him during surgery last year. Photo: Anita Kilgore

In February of 2000, two healthy, happy, identical twin boys were born in Carrolton, Ga., to April and Todd Prater. However, it soon became obvious to Todd that, while the boys may be genetically identical, their facial features were different.

“They put the little beanie on them and what I noticed was it kind of looked like, with the hat on, it looked like maybe his ear had gotten folded down,” said Todd, who pulled the hat up, saw the ear was missing and called the nurses over.

Trinton, the older twin by 32 minutes, was born with craniofacial microsomia and microtia, this meant his right ear was missing and his right jaw will grow and develop more slowly than the left side. It is an extremely rare condition found in only one out of every 10,000 children and its cause is unclear.

Because of his condition, Trinton began to see specialists as early as two-weeks old to ensure he was healthy and developed properly.

They learned at that first appointment there was a surgical option for Trinton that required the removal of two ribs, but Burstein told Todd and April that medicine was advancing rapidly and new surgeries may be developed before Trinton was old enough to have anything done.

A few years after the twins were born, Todd accepted a position at Jacksonville State University and moved to Alabama. Trinton continued to see Dr. Fernando Burstein in Georgia and in 2005 Burstein performed the first jaw surgery on him.

The surgery itself went without a hitch. The only problem was an unexpected one – the twins had never been apart.

“We did not realize Thomas and Trinton had never been apart so far and we were so focused on Trinton with the surgery,” said April, adding that plans had been made for Thomas and Melanie to spend time with their grandparents at a campground. “It was really hard on Thomas. He had a really hard time with it, so we were better prepared with the second surgery.”

Trinton was a little shy of his fourth birthday when he started to realize he looked a little different from Thomas. That year, he surprised his grandparents during a trip on the “Polar Express” in Georgia by asking Santa to give him an ear for Christmas.

“I thought there must have been some sort of doctor’s treatment that could change it,” said Trinton.

Last year, Trinton was finally old enough to get his ear through surgery. Burstein recommended a colleague for the procedure, Dr. Ann Schwentker, who serves as director for the Center for Facial Nerve and Brachial Plexus Reconstruction at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

“What always stands out to me is he said with ears 85 percent of it is art and he said she is just an artist,” said April, adding that Schwentker actually carves the ear in cartilage from a template of the other ear. “She did just an amazing job with it.”

Constructing the ear took two surgeries, spaced six months apart, during which Schwentker took rib cartilage from Trinton, carved it into the shape of an ear and covered it with skin grafts.

“It’s part of his own body and it has its own blood supply, so it heals, but you can carve it and bend it somewhat,” said Schwentker. “It’s not as bendy as real ear cartilage, it’s pretty stiff.”

Though Trinton still lacks an ear canal, a surgery that may be possible but is not recommended because of the dangers involved, he is thrilled to finally be able to wear sunglasses and to be mistaken for his twin.

“I call it Dr. Schwentker’s greatest creation,” said Trinton.

Trinton, Thomas and Melanie have always loved to play outside, roughhouse with each other and ride bikes. In the last few years, the three have also begun to take tae kwon do lessons. However, following Trinton’s first ear surgery, they had to be a lot calmer around him. With cartilage missing from five ribs, he couldn’t be pushed or even allowed to fall down too hard.

“I would do things like bring my Webkins outside if everybody wanted to be outside,” said Trinton.

Now that he is fully healed, he’s thrilled to be able to run and play with his siblings again and the three recently earned their blue belts.

As he grows, Trinton faces more surgeries on his jaw and he will probably never have full hearing on his right side, but the family is thrilled with the care he has received so far and is confident his doctors will take wonderful care of him through the remaining procedures.

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About Jennifer Bachus

Jennifer Bacchus is a staff writer at The Jacksonville News. She can be reached at 256-435-5021 or via e-mail at jbacchus@jaxnews.com

See story at The Jacksonville News's website: www.jaxnews.com .

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