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Ben H

In the arms of Jesus, always in my heart

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Our son Luke was born on Friday, August 24, 2012 by C-section in the 34th week of wife’s pregnancy due to preclamcia. I heard him cry, and after a few minutes I was able to see him before he was taken to be examined. He grabbed my pinky, and I thought everything was going to be okay. We were not prepared for the news that would change our joy into sadness and sorrow.

Shortly after wife was rolled back into her room, the doctor walked in. I knew by the look on his face something wasn’t right. He informed that he had R-CDH. His liver floated through a hole in the diaphragm, hindering the development of his right lung. There was no guarantee that he was going to make it through the first night. Only place that was able to do ECMO on a premature infant was at Duke Medical, but they didn’t know if he would survive the flight there from Wake Med in Raleigh, so they tried to get him stabilized where he was.

On Saturday, we had what we thought was encouraging news. We were told that he had stabilized overnight, and that he seems to be doing alright at that time. Of course, we were going into NICU to check on him and to ask the nurse on duty about his condition as well. We were even able to relax and have a moment or two of humor. We even filled out the paper work for his birth certificate and social security card.

On Sunday, we were informed that his health had started heading south, and discussed the option of pulling the plug on him. They even called in a photographer from Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep to take pictures of him and family members holding him. Even though I wasn’t crying audibly, the tears flowed down my face as images ran through my head as to what I wouldn’t get to experience with my son. We decided to let him have every chance possible at life, and settled for a restless night of sleep.

Monday morning, one of the nurses was making a print of one of his feet, and she allowed me to make the print of the other foot. Wife and I spent the biggest part of the morning and early afternoon hoping things would improve. We got the news that he was going downhill, and there was nothing else they could do for him. We went to the unit to hold him as he passed away in my arms on Monday, August 27, 2012. He’s gone physically, but will always be in my heart. His 78 hours on earth was filled with love, surrounded by those that loved him and he knew it too.
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