From Preemie to Powerhouse: Football Star Overcomes BPD

Brandon survived heart and lung conditions early on and now lives an active life

Lea Steffes, MD, and Brandon

Eighteen-year-old Brandon Hasten is a double threat on the football field, playing both right tackle and defensive end, which means he’s on the field for the entire game.

“He’s the coach’s favorite,” said his mom, Racheal Johnson.

Brandon also plays baseball and this year is trying wrestling for the first time.

And he does all of this while having only about 80% of the lung function of a normal 18-year-old.

“I wonder what I could do if I got to 100,” Brandon said.

“He’d never leave the field, ever,” joked his mom.

Brandon said he enjoys conquering the difficult moments during football games and practices.

“I like the challenges that football throws at me,” he said. “There’s something new that I have to overcome, every game and every week.”

Brandon has already overcome so much. Eighteen years ago, he was born very prematurely, at 27 weeks.

“He was very, very gray and wasn’t breathing,” Racheal said. “He had to be revived. The doctor at the hospital where he was born said that he wouldn’t live until his first birthday. I wouldn’t give up, so they rushed us to Stanford and they saved his life. They’ve been a godsend to us.”

Brandon had patent ductus arteriosus, which happens when a temporary blood vessel connecting the main arteries of the heart fails to close after birth.

“This blood vessel is open in all babies for a time after birth—but in some preterm babies, it stays open and too much blood can ‘flood’ the lungs, making it hard for the baby to breathe and causing other problems,” said David Stevenson, MD, a neonatologist who treated Brandon.

Brandon’s ductus arteriosus was closed surgically. He also had bacterial pneumonia, further complicating his breathing, which was treated with antibiotics.

Even after Brandon’s lungs were cleared of fluid, they still bore the scars of prematurity.

“Brandon had a condition called bronchopulmonary dysplasia, or BPD,” said Lea Steffes, MD, Brandon’s pediatric pulmonologist. “Lungs take the whole gestational period to fully develop, so premature babies often need help breathing. The help that we give them to breathe keeps them alive, but it also damages their lungs. BPD is a result of having underdeveloped lungs and then adding that damage on top.”

After a month at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, Brandon had transitioned from breathing with a ventilator to just needing oxygen through a cannula, or small plastic tube in his nostrils. He was transferred to a hospital closer to home.

“He’s been beating expectations ever since,” said Racheal.

Premature babies with heart and lung issues like Brandon had can now benefit from Stanford Children’s Cardiac and Respiratory Care for Infants with BPD (CRIB) Program. The CRIB Program brings together a team of different specialists, including neonatologists, pulmonologists, cardiologists, respiratory therapists, and nurses, to help babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and follow them as they leave the hospital and start receiving care in the clinic.

“Premature lungs like Brandon’s can grow and develop over years if we can prevent them from severe injury in the NICU. We focus on tiny changes in the first few days of life to give kids like Brandon the healthy lives they deserve as they grow up,” says Lawrence Prince, MD, PhD, a neonatologist who cares for babies in the NICU and the CRIB Program.

These days, Brandon has just two appointments a year with Dr. Steffes. He has asthma—a common complication of BPD—and he uses an inhaler.

Brandon was just 3 pounds 3 ounces at birth, and he now clocks in at 6-foot-3 and over 200 pounds.

“Brandon is a poster child for a preemie thriving 18 years later,” Dr. Steffes said.

Brandon graduated high school this May. He is planning to go to community college in his hometown of Modesto in the fall, where he’ll play football and study fire science.

“I’m just looking forward to watching him become an adult and go to college,” Dr. Steffes said. “I’m really proud of him and his mom.”

With everything they’ve been through together, Brandon and his mom have a very close relationship. “He’s my best bud, my everything,” Racheal said. “If I had listened to Brandon’s first doctor, I wouldn’t have Brandon now. Always advocate for your kid.”