Baby Owen is thriving after massive tumor is removed

By Maureen Gilmer, Riley Children’s Health senior writer, mgilmer1@iuhealth.org

Owen Lower looks like a pint-sized punk rocker. Put a tiny guitar in his hands, or drumsticks or maracas, and he’ll even play the part.

The toddler’s spiky hair comes naturally, his mom says. She can try to tame it with a brush, but that’s not happening today. He is still recovering from a nasty bout with several respiratory illnesses that hospitalized him for a week.

Owen is at home in Noblesville now with his parents, Dustin Lower and Katy Preidt, his big sister, Lyla, his nurse and an assortment of people hoping to share his story with the wider world.

Cute as he is, 15-month-old Owen had a traumatic entrance into this world. He was diagnosed in utero with a giant tumor on his neck called a cervical teratoma, an extremely rare form of a germ cell tumor that is usually benign but can obstruct a baby’s airway, resulting in an accumulation of fluid that can affect growth and cause preterm labor.

“We tried to not go down the Google rabbit hole,” Preidt said, once they learned what they were facing. “But the pictures are very scary.”

The mass was actually larger than their baby’s head, so a multidisciplinary team of doctors and other specialists with Riley Children’s Health knew his delivery would be anything but normal.

In fact, there was no guarantee that Owen would survive delivery. The tumor was interfering with his airway, so it was crucial that the medical team address that during delivery while the baby was still attached to the placenta.

While his mother was under anesthesia, doctors at Riley partially delivered the baby via C-section and intubated him to ensure he could breathe before cutting the umbilical cord and bringing the rest of him into the world.

Preidt still remembers waking up to one of those doctors squeezing her hand and telling her that little Owen had survived.

It was a beautiful moment, one that neither Preidt nor her husband dared to expect, but they could hope.

“We tried to remain positive but also realistic,” Preidt said. “The outlook wasn’t great.”

They hadn’t set up a nursery yet, she said, deciding it would be better to set it up after the fact rather than have to take it down if the outcome was poor.

Owen was whisked away to the NICU that November day in 2023 and later underwent surgery to remove the tumor.

“We were so preoccupied with his birth that we didn’t take time to totally understand the NICU,” Preidt said. “That was harder than I expected. We knew if we were in the NICU that was the best-case scenario for us, but a lot of parents didn’t expect to be there.”

The NICU team was phenomenal in every way, she said.

“We can’t say enough great things about the NICU there at Riley. Such kindness and support. They showed us such wonderful compassion.”

And tumor removal day was a happy day for the couple.

“They were able to remove it in one big chunk,” Preidt said. “We had the best team of doctors, but also luck on our side. I was lucky to have amazing doctors who I could trust with everything.”

Dr. Melinda Markham, medical director of the Fetal Center at Riley and an attending neonatologist, was part of that multidisciplinary team.

Despite everything thrown at the couple during the last half of Preidt’s pregnancy and the months that followed, “they did a heroic job of being calm through all of it,” Dr. Markham said.

“They had great hope for Owen, but they were ready to accept whatever the outcome could be,” she added. “We had a great partnership with them and built up a sense of trust … where there is no question that they can’t ask.”

She and Dr. Hiba Mustafa, maternal-fetal medicine specialist and surgeon at Riley, were among those who gathered to celebrate with Owen and his family when they released a Riley red wagon bearing his name into the Downtown hospital fleet last month.

“He looks fantastic,” Dr. Markham said. “That’s what we hope for – not only to take a baby home but a baby who’s going to thrive. Owen is thriving.”

Dr. Mustafa, who monitored Owen’s growth closely in the womb, said it took extraordinary planning and collaboration among many committed Riley teams to care for Preidt and her baby before, during and after delivery.

Once he was safely delivered and his mom was recovering, there was a collective sigh of relief in the operating room, she said.

And now, 15 months later, Owen is a happy and healthy baby, with “a spirited and fiery personality,” his mom said. “He adores dinosaurs, cars and Elmo, and nothing makes him happier than kisses from our dog and hugs from his big sister.”

Owen continues to build his vocabulary and feeding skills, while his sister dotes on him. Lyla even has a miniature IV pole like Owen’s that she uses when caring for her assortment of baby dolls.

“Taking care of babies is her passion,” her mom said.

The family has their routine down now, but leaving the relative safety of the NICU was hard in the first few weeks.

“We’d had this team of people at our beck and call helping Owen stay safe and healthy,” Preidt said. “Then coming home and trusting ourselves to take care of him was very scary.”

But looking at her son now, she said, she feels “an overwhelming sense of joy and completeness.”

“I once tried to prepare my heart for the possibility of losing him, and I am endlessly grateful that he is here with us. He fills our days with laughter and love – he’s hilarious, opinionated and incredibly cuddly.”

Gratitude runs deep for this couple.

“We are thankful for all the people who worked so hard to bring him into this world,” Dustin Lower said. “Our lives wouldn’t be the same without him.”

And while they still worry, especially about how their son will adjust to daycare this summer – and all the germs that come with that – those concerns feel much smaller compared to the life-and-death fears they once faced.

“Today, we get to focus on watching him grow,” his mom said, “and for that, we are forever thankful.”

Photos by Mike Dickbernd, IU Health visual journalist, mdickbernd@iuhealth.org