WARNING: This is a very emotional blog post.
My apologies for this information coming from our blog or via email. This has been a very rough two weeks in the Healy house and outside of our immediate family our phone conversations have been very limited. It is very difficult at this time to talk about and even harder to write about our experience. As many of you recently learned that Bill and I were excited to learn that we were going to welcome a new addition to our family. We found out early that we were having another little boy and were very excited about being the parents to two beautiful boys.
Recently, our world was shaken up. Almost two weeks ago we received tragic news about our baby Jameson Cole Healy. We found out through some routine blood work that baby's levels showed a strong evidence of Spina Bifida. We were sent to a high risk doctor for further testing Ultra sounds, Amnio and such. We discovered that our little boy did in fact have Spina Bifida. Not knowing all the information about Spina Bifida we began to research as much as we could. For those of you, who like us did not know what it is, Spina Bifida is where the vertebrae of the spine do not enclose over the spinal column, leaving it exposed and protruding from the back. Basically what we found out is that where ever the spinal column begins to protrude there is extreme nerve damage to all of the nerves below this area. We learned that Baby Cole's spina bifida began in L4 and covered over 5 vertebrae. There are many cases of Spina Bifida out there and many forms of extremes that this takes on. We decided to visit with a Neurosurgeon that would need to do surgery immediately after he was born to learn what this meant in our situation. We learned that many pregnancies end in miscarriage, if they are completed and the baby is taken via C section that many babies do not make it outside of the womb and if they make it 24 hours life begins with and continues on with many surgeries and medical extremes. We found that we would need to have a closure surgery for Cole's back, more than likely a shunt put into his brain because there was already evidence of spinal fluid building up in brain, he would have limited mobility for a few years in his youth, but would ultimately end up in a wheel chair for all of his life, he would never have control over his bladder or bowels. And as if these certainties were not enough many Spina Bifida patients often have heart and lung problem, orthopedic as well as a long list of medical problems. In this scary time, we turn our hearts to God, medical research and all the information we could find.
We are very sad to say that our sweet baby Jamie Cole is in God's hands in heaven now. He was born on May 15, 2010 at 1:00 am. He weighed 1 pound and was 10 1/2 inches long. He passed very quickly after his birth and was surrounded by love. We ask you to pray with us that God will keep him safe with him and pain free and one day that we may meet again. This is a very emotional time for us as we continue forward as a family. We have decided to have his remains cremated and that we will eventually host a memorial. At this time we have no set plans and are just trying to spend as much time with the sweet angel that we can wrap our arms around. We will keep you informed as plans are made. Thank you in advance for you love and support through this tough time.
With love,
Dayna, Bill, Garrett and our angel in Heaven
