Baby Sam Christmas update

Sam had a very precarious Christmas. When a baby is doing well, it's easy to forget that a split second can change everything, and that certainly happened for this family on Christmas day. Joy sent some new pictures reluctantly - she said she finds it hard to share pictures when Sam looks so puffy and sick, but she wanted to let people know exactly what he was facing. The first picture is Sam with his parents, Joy and Kurt. The second picture is Sam with his Aunt Stephie (Joy's sister), and siblings Matthew, Emma, and Parker. The third is just Sam. Here's the latest update from Joy:


"I never want to relive last night.
I do not want to remember the complete brokenness, we as parents had looking at our sweet baby fighting for his life...and knowing he was losing the battle.
Sam went downhill very quickly yesterday afternoon. Our prayer requests have focused on fluid retention and severe edema, and yesterday his body was at maximum capacity of fluid overload and it had had enough. Even his little ears were so swollen-they

were swelled shut. His kidneys started to shut down. He was not urinating despite massive doses of strong diuretics.

The doctors laid everything out extremely clear for us. We could do nothing and watch Sam die. We could shut off the ventilator and watch Sam die. We could give our consent to a procedure that had the potential to help him...but also had the very high possibility of killing him. The Doctor's words still ring in my mind, she said them over and over..."we could kill him with this procedure".

It is a situation no parent EVER should have to be in. Those are not words ANY parent should have to hear. It is not a decision that parents should have to make for their babies. Yet we know that many do every day...last night we were one of them, and it shattered us. We just kept asking for one more minute.

... One more minute to feel his warm, soft skin. One more minute to feel him gripping our fingers with his sweet tiny hands. One more minute to tell him how much he was loved, and how proud we were of him. One more minute to reassure him that he was in God's hands. One more minute to smell his precious little head. One more minute to pray over him. One more minute to cry out on his behalf. One more minute to spend holding on to each other trying to breathe through choking sobs and hot tears. One more minute asking God to spare his life.

Finally there were no more minutes left, and we had to walk away from our baby Samuel...we had to walk away and leave him to have this procedure, knowing we could lose him in the next half hour. We said one more I love you and gave one more kiss knowing it could be our last. Kurt and I cried like we have never cried before. It was more than our hearts could take.

We put aside our wills, and what we wanted for Sam, and we started praying for God's.

We could feel people praying. We could feel you lifting us up, and bringing Sam before The Lord. There were more tears as we realized we will NEVER be able to thank you all enough for praying for our little boy. NEVER.

When the doctor came and told us that Sam made it through and there were no complications

the tears and sobs came again. We give all of the glory and honor to The Lord, because He is the only one who could have done what was accomplished last night. We are praising and thanking Him for all He has done in and through our little Sam's life...and we are praying that He continues to use him.

Samuel is still in VERY critical condition, and is extremely fragile right now. They were able to pull a lot of fluid off today with the dialysis, but there is still so much extra on his little body. I have not wanted to post a picture of him so swelled up because it is so hard to look at, but I have tonight so you have a clear picture and a better understanding of just how dangerous of a situation we are facing.

He is urinating, but his output in that area needs to be more than what it is. He is on very strong medication that has the potential for very serious side effects like bleeding on the brain, internal bleeding, and stroke. He is at high risk for infection, which would be disasterous for him at this point. His body cannot handle an infection-it would be deadly. He has a really long way to go. "

I know that was a long one, but I really wanted you to feel Joy's heart. She said it, but I need to say it too - THANK YOU for your continued prayers and warm thoughts for this little boy. They really are helping this family!