Shelby Wilburn – Co-Host of the CDH Parent Show for Younger Kids
I’m Shelby. I’m a wife, a mother, a baker, and a passionate advocate for congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) awareness. My family’s CDH journey began unexpectedly and changed our lives in ways we never could have imagined.
After what we believed was a normal pregnancy and routine anatomy scans, our world was turned upside down when our son was diagnosed with a right-sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia. His intestines had moved into his chest, leaving his right lung compressed, and suddenly we were facing a diagnosis we had never even heard of before. What began with fear, uncertainty, and countless questions became a journey of learning, advocating, praying, and fighting for our son.
I will never forget what it felt like to sit in a hospital room surrounded by medical terminology, statistics, and an overwhelming fear of the unknown. We didn’t know what our son’s future would look like. We didn’t know how his right lung would develop or what challenges were waiting for us. We simply knew that our little boy was fighting a battle he never should have had to fight, and we would be right there fighting alongside him.
Through surgery, hospital stays, difficult days, and moments when fear felt bigger than hope, our son continued to show us a strength I didn’t know was possible. Watching him overcome each obstacle changed me forever and gave me a completely different perspective on life, motherhood, and the things I once took for granted.
Today, my son is growing, thriving, and continuing to show us just how strong a CDH warrior can be. Our journey hasn’t simply become a chapter of our past—it has become a part of who we are. I now carry a deep passion for making sure other families affected by CDH know they are not alone.
I want to help bring awareness to a birth defect that far too many people have never heard of, and I want other parents to have the support, understanding, and hope that I desperately needed when we first received our son’s diagnosis. My hope is that by sharing our story—the fear, the tears, the uncertainty, the victories, and the beautiful moments in between—I can remind another family that even in the darkest moments, there can still be hope.
Our journey began with a diagnosis that terrified us, but it has grown into a story of strength, love, resilience, and a little boy who has taught me what it truly means to fight.
About The Author
