MIDLAND, Texas — “My son’s twelve, who wants to hear that they’re son’s going to die within 12 to 24 hours?" said Tristan Ramos's mother Cassandra.
It's a mother's worst nightmare, but Cassandra knew she had to act fast.
“He had not been feeling right for a while. But we kept taking him to the doctor, to the pediatrician, to an allergy specialist because he kept saying, 'I’m not feeling right, I’m not feeling right," explained Ramos.
But the only diagnoses doctors gave Tristan were heavy migraines.
“He had given us some strong prescriptions and told us that he was only allowed up to three pills for that whole day. Well Tristan had already taken all three of them within the hour and was still crying. I was like, this is rare that he’s crying like this," said Ramos.
Enough was enough, Cassandra raced her son to the ER where doctors still told them it was nothing but a bad migraine.
“I was like you know I’m not leaving until I know what’s wrong with my son," said Ramos.
Two cat scans later, they finally found what Tristan had all along.
“We had been there all night, the doctor comes in at 8:30 in the morning and he was like," 'We can take the fluid out of his back but he does have Hydrocephalus.' "And I’m like wait, what?" 'And he’s got less than 12 to 24 hours to live, but I’m not a neurosurgeon and we don’t have one on hand.' said Cassandra.
“I was just crying bursting in tears because I thought I was going to lose my family," said Tristan.
With the clock ticking and nothing yet accomplished, Cassandra demanded Tristan be transported to Lubbock for immediate brain surgery.
“And of course, you get what you have to hear you have a 50/50 chance of him not being able to talk or walk or see," said Ramos.
But Tristan fought hard and shocked doctors by making an abnormally successful recovery.
He now has the chance to chase a dream he’s had since he was seven-years-old.
“Dad had an accordion laying around, dad really didn’t put much use to it. He was the one who picked it up and we noticed he could play by ear and we were like what?”
As Tristan soon discovered, this talent ran in the family.
“I was doing 100% but now I want to do 200% because God left me here for a reason," said Tristan.
Tristan now travels the world, singing and playing his accordion, hoping to inspire others.
His message: “Never give up, never give up."