No Greater Gift than Love

We would love to think that Christmas for everyone means gifts under the tree, big feasts with family and friends, and loads of holiday cheer, but, for some of our medical families that isn’t always the case. Many of them are in hospitals waiting on transplants, treatments, and diagnosis. They are spending their Christmas worrying and waiting surrounded by the sounds of beeping machines and dripping IV’s. For some, they have spent the holiday money on medical bills, their children are not in the comfort of their own home, and the hospital turkey dinner may be less than desired. But, one thing we know for sure is that Christmas is the season of love, hope, healing and strength. It’s a great time to be surrounded by friends and family. These are the people that get us through tough times and in many ways remind us that there is no greater gift than love.

Merry Christmas from all of us at Icing Smiles to all of you!

Liam was born a healthy baby full of joy and life. As with other toddlers his age, he had normal childhood illnesses that included ear and sinus infections, asthma, etc. but nothing out of the usual. On September 29, 2015, Liam’s parents found out they were expecting another boy! This would make 3. The family was so excited. However, that excitement was short-lived when Liam started to experience shortness of breath the very next day and was rushed to a children’s hospital 2.5 hours away.

Liam unfortunately slipped into cardiac arrest. His tiny heart was exhausted and essentially went lifeless. A doctor performed chest compressions and was able to stabilize his heart. Liam’s dad said, “There was instantly an overwhelming support system from all of our family and friends. Everybody was praying and our emotional roller coaster began.”

As a result of the cardiac arrest that Liam experienced, the Cardiologist said the machine that he was on wasn’t able to get all of the blood out of his heart so they were going to call in a team to make a small hole to help it drain. This procedure would take 4 – 5 hours but they did it in a quarter of the time! Surrounded by lots of family and an enormous outpour of prayer, Liam’s parents were able to breathe a little easier. The doctors were able to remove the pressure off the left side of Liam’s heart.

By 5oclock that afternoon, the nurses had explained that Liam’s arterial pressure was up and that was a great sign! The side of his heart that wasn’t doing very well was now pumping. In the next few days, Liam had started moving his hands and feet and even opened his eyes a few times. He was even starting to move around a lot. The goal was to take Liam off the ECMO machine to see how his heart would function and follow up with a MRI.

On October 6th at 21 months old, Liam went in for a CT scan which showed signs of fluid buildup and some blood. He also suffered a mild stroke. Even though the family experienced a setback, their faith never wavered. Liam’s mom said, “We are so blessed with the friends and family God has given us. We wouldn’t have made it without all the prayers.”

The next day, the doctors said Liam looked better and decided to clamp the ECMO off. His blood pressure and heart rate stayed good, however, they decided that his heart was too weak to be taken off the machine and would start the process of putting him on the transplant list.

Today Liam is still waiting on the transplant list, but he is doing much better. He has been talking more than ever and has even started moving his right foot (the one that was affected by the stroke). He was visited by members of the St. Louis Blues and on his 2nd birthday Fox2Now came and did a story on him. The staff at Cardinal Glennon decorated his room and sang to him. His tiered ‘Superman Liam’ themed Mickey Mouse cake was graciously made by Sugar Angel Kim Jack with Kakes Icing More in Overland, Missouri.

The greatest thing I took from Liam’s story was something his parents shared, “With all of our struggles comes realization that God is with us always. He has shown us the greatest miracle we could ever have imagined. Anytime we are down, He shows us that He is always by our side.”

For future updates on Liam’s surgery follow his page.