Kaleb had his 2nd surgery when he was 1 1/2 years old, again he came thru it great. After this surgery he was strong enough to learn to walk.(run) On June 9, 1998 Kaleb was to go in for his last corrective surgery. On the night before, he had said his prayer as normal and then sat up in the bed between me and his grandfather and announced that he was going to heaven! Then I found myself explaining to a 3 year old why he could not do that. By then he was crying he said "But me want to see Jesus" I did finally get him talked into he could go to heaven when I did but not before. He drifted off to sleep, but sleep did not come for me that night. The surgery did not go as planned. Kaleb started to reject the donor tissue, then the surgeon decided to remove it. Kaleb still did not improve. On June 23rd the Doctor came to tell us that Kaleb was suffering an adverse reation to the blood thinner Heparin. It was not thinning his blood but clotting it. By then Kaleb had massive clots in his left leg and stomach cavity. On July 13th at 2:10am Kaleb suffered a massive starburst affect stroke. On July 15th they told us he was brain dead! And we needed to let him go. If he lived he would be a vegitable.

How could we let him die? He had not lived yet! We had brought a little boy in who was full of life...just getting the last surgery "out of the way!" He was our life. His Papa and I could not let him go. Kaleb's mother wanted to cut off the machines, we had some heated moments. I refused, because I could not give up on Kaleb without giving him a chance.

Two months later we took Kaleb home on life support, he was like a dead child. But when I looked at him I still saw our baby! I could almost hear his laughter. Our home will never be the same.

Kaleb is 6 now, he has been off the vent almost 2 years. He is like a 3-4 month old baby. He smiles, crys, turns his head when you talk to him and loves to patty-cake. It is still hard, we have been trying to retrain him to eat. We have had no help. Most of our family and friends left along time ago. Kaleb will be starting to a school for the handicapped soon. It took me over a year to get him upgraded from brain dead! God has been good! Kaleb is our little miracle. I prayed and asked God not to take Kaleb, that I would care for him and never complain. That I would push,pull,or drag him as long as I could still have him in my life. I have had to do all those things as I weigh 112lbs and Kaleb is at 58lbs! Sometimes we come to a place in our lives where we have to make a stand, and sometimes to stand is not the easy way. I beleive that anything worth having comes with a price! And Kaleb is worth the price we pay everyday! So when you kiss the head of your healthy child,grandchild or a loved one, say a little prayer for our Kaleb. As long as he keeps fighting to come back, we will never give up on him.

If you are in a TBI situation never give up! Cause it is not over til God says its over!

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