Fundraiser To Help Families Affected By Rare Skull Condition Taking Place In Fresno

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FRESNO (KMJ) — The family of a valley boy who was diagnosed with a rare skull condition are now ‘paying it forward’ – to help others whose lives have been impacted it.

Craniosynostosis was what doctors said Cole Osegueda had – when he was only six months old.

It’s a condition which requires a child’s skull to be purposefully broken to allow the brain to develop normally.

His parents Mike and Tanya Osegueda did what doctors advised not to do but what any worried parent would do naturally – and researched the disease online.

All the sites they found gave frightening descriptions of the condition, but there was one which provided hope.

“I came across this website called Cranio Care Bears“, says Tanya. “They were the first organization, the first people to show us that things would be OK, Cole would live a normal life.

“We’ve never met them, we’ve never actually spoken to them on the phone. I’ve sent them a couple of notes here and there on Facebook but they gave us the kind of support we needed”.

The people behind Cranio Care Bears support parents devastated by the diagnosis.

Cole has since recovered – but his parents want to help the organization that helped them – so they’re holding a fundraiser for Cranio Care Bears tonight.

“Just show up and have a good time”, says Cole’s father Mike Osegueda. “Basically anything you want to do a portion of that will be going to us so if you want to eat we’ll get a portion of the money there, if you want to buy a beer we can get a portion of that. We have raffle tickets, so bring cash for that. They’re going to be $5 each and we have a lot of really cool prizes”.

It takes place at the Tioga-Sequoia Brewing Company between 5pm and 9pm the evening of Thursday August 20th.