Itty-bitty Chase's parents could only hold onto each other during their baby's life-threatening health crisis. Hear their compelling story of perseverance and faith from our Kat 103.7 Radiothon for Children's Nebraska.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So all of you and your husband Kent, had tried
for years to get pregnant. You found out in March
of twenty nineteen that you were expecting and that your son,
Chase had a congenital heart defect. Not really what you're
expecting to hear. How did you find out and what
was your reaction at that time? I can only imagine.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
So we found out at a maternal funeral medicine, a
high specialist doctor appointment, and he came in the room
and said, huh, something looks weird on this ultrasound and
then said that there was some type of hole in
his heart. And I started sobbing, and he looked at
me and said, do you need a minute? Said no,
(00:42):
it's okay, keep going, and then he just kept trying
to explain it. So it was I just kind of
felt like, what in the world because my brother had
gone through that as well, so I just couldn't believe
that it was happening to us.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
So you'd already had that kind of episode in your face.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yes, yep, my brother also has kind of the same
type of heart defect as my son does. My husband
was thankfully with me. We knew that it was just
out of precaution that we were going. So they really
didn't think that they were going to find anything, but
just to be safe. He went with me because he
was also excited with our first kid, and so luckily
he was there.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So obviously when Shase was born, you had to spend
some time with him in the nick you but then
he went home and you were hoping that just regular
cardiology checkups and surgery maybe at six months was in
the picture.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
But tell us what happened to change that.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
So we went for the first week checkup and everything
was fine. His oxygen had dropped lower, but so his
average was supposed to be at seventy five percent and
usually it's supposed to between ninety five and one hundred,
and so they sent us home and then we did
the second week checkup and his oxygen was in the
fifties and they were like, nope, not going home. So
we were admitted right then in the middle of our point,
(02:00):
and he was placed on oxygen in the In the
pic you when you.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Found out that you were INDI going to have to
do this surgery thing right now? What was that like
having to hand change silver to a surgeon to that
tender age.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
There's really no words it. Actually, we had to go
through it a couple of times because it would get
rescheduled for more urgent cases that came in, so we'd
be all prepared to hand them over and then they
come and be like, sorry, we have to reschedule, and
then it happened again, Sorry we have to reschedule. Somebody
else's more urgent, And so part of you is very
(02:35):
selfish and you're like, no, my son needs this, and
you want to fight, but then you think of that
other family and if it is more urgent, obviously they
are going through something as well. So it's a very
very tricky emotion to sort through. But handing them over,
I just thought of you know, they say that, you know,
the baby's hard the size of a walnut, Like, how
(02:55):
in the world are they going to fix that? But yeah,
so it's just you just have to trust in your
doctors and and the team and in God. We really, yeah,
put a lot of faith in God. Sorry.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
When Chase was in surgery, what kind of conversations did
you and your husband have?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
We were very realistic on you know, what do we
do if he doesn't make it? You know, how do
we move forward. Do we try to have another kid?
Do we not? Because that's disrespectful. How do we honor him?
What will his life look like? Yeah, we had a
lot of realistic conversations about it, so excuse me. Yeah,
(03:43):
so we had a lot of honest conversations about what
life would look like, whether he made it and had
issues or whether he did not.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Tell us. How the surgery went and then what followed.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
So his surgery, according to the doctor, was quote textbook
everything went perfect. He handled everything well. And then we
were in the waiting room waiting for them to come
grab us, and it thirty minutes past, forty five minutes past,
an hour passed. Then the nurse came out and said,
(04:18):
you know, your son is, you know, acting up a
little bit. He's having some trouble. He's third spacing and
we're like what Basically he was his fluid from his
veins was going outside into his like skin, and he
just was not responding to the surgery well. And she said,
but we got it under control. It'll be fine, he'll
be good. We'll come get you in twenty thirty minutes.
(04:39):
Thirty minutes goes by, forty five minutes goes by. An
hour goes by, and then I hear code blue room
two o six, code blue, and code blue had becomes
something so common that I just like started to zone
it out. And then I went two o six, like
we're in two o six chases in two o six,
and I just fell to the floor. Sorry, I just
(05:04):
I did not think he was gonna make it. He
had our family was there and they were trying to
comfort us, and can I just didn't want any part
of it. We just kind of walked down the hall
and and just kind of were like, Okay, what do
we do? Like how is this gonna work? And so
eventually the doctor comes out and they bring us into
(05:24):
this little waiting room and a chaplet is sitting there,
and I'm like, why is there a chaplin here? Like
that's not good, and the surgeon just I will never
forget the look on his face. He just seems so
defeated and so empathetic to us. But he said, you know,
we just have to wait and see. And I said, well,
(05:44):
what does that mean? Like I don't know what that means?
And then he explained that he's on life support and
he has a machine breathing for him. And a machine
pumping blood through his body, and we just have to
wait and see if he's even gonna make it through
the night. And it was like three am at this point,
so yeah, it was rough. So they had to prepare
us for what his he would look like when we
(06:06):
got back there, because he was a little, tiny, five
pound thing, and they said he definitely did not look
like that anymore, and he had gained probably a good
five or plus pounds of fluids, so they had to
prepare us for what he would look like, and it
was rough.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Wait and see those words not something you want to
hear anymore.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
No, yeah, wait and see. It became a very common
thing told us at the hospital, like every time we
would try a new approach with Chase, well, we just
have to wait and see if this works, and then
it generally wouldn't work, and then okay, well we just
have to wait and see if this one works. Okay,
did it work? Oh nope? And then finally, you know,
the weight and sees were starting to become more positive.
(06:49):
So now we really try to take it in a
positive turn of we just have to wait and see
where he goes, because he has come so far that
the wait and see is I can't believe that we're
here and what we are seeing. And the weight was hard,
but it's been worth what we've been seeing with how
amazing he's doing now as an almost five year old.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
We just passed Thanksgiving. What does Thanksgiving mean to you?
It has a special meaning, we.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Understand, Yeah, it does. I know that the surgery date
doesn't always fall on the actual date of Thanksgiving every year,
but for us, Thanksgiving is his heart aniversary because he
went into surgery the day before Thanksgiving, and so Thanksgiving
we were imagining when we got pregnant, you know, the
little turkey butt outfits and you know, sharing them off
(07:41):
to our friends and families at Thanksgiving, and he wasn't
even able to wear clothes, he was so bloated from
the surgery. And so it just took a very different
meaning of instead of celebrating, you know, being with friends
and family and celebrating our you know, our thanks in
our life, we were fighting for his life and we
(08:04):
didn't know if he was strong enough to fight for us.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
But now Thanksgiving, but.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Now Thanksgiving is it really is Thanksgiving. We every year
we put a little box together for children's the pick
you staff for the nurses, because we are so thankful
that they take time away from their families, their lives,
their things that they're thankful for, and they come and
save these children's lives. They saved my son's life. So
(08:32):
we put a little box together with pictures of Chase
and some snacks and pop and just some you know,
candy and fun things to try to have a better
Thanksgiving when they're working in such a tough environment. Yeah,
so we just want to give back that thanks and
be thankful for where Chase is at now.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And I know Chase has a sister, Dakota. How is
this played out with your family?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
What is what Chase has gone through? What you have
gone through?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Grew up in a very similar situation. So my older
brother has a heart defect and also autism, and my
son has a heart defect and autism, and I'm the
younger sister and Dakota is the younger sister sister, so
it's a very similar situation. So we try to be
as open as we can with them for age appropriate
(09:22):
terminology and discussing with them. But really Coda just sees
him as her older brother. They fight like normal kids,
They get along and play like normal kids. So we
really try to make it just a part of normalcy
and not try to make it something that he's burdened
with and that she's burdened with as a sister. But
(09:44):
just this is what we have to do, and he
has these appointments and he has these things, and this
is how we support him. And then coda, this is
how we support you and just make it a very
normal life for him.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
In her you've been through a string of battles.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Without getting too personal, what did this do to you
as a couple.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
It Actually we joke that the hospital made us even
closer and stronger. And whenever we do like get into
a little disagreement where like we just need to go
spend the night in the hospital and then it will
be best buds again, because we did not fight once
in the hospital. We just realized that there were bigger
things to battle than you know, the little bickering things,
(10:27):
and we agreed on every step of the way of
what we were supposed to do to Chase, and we
just I don't know, we were up at three a m.
You know, watching the monitors and joking and having fun
and just kind of got to spend some time reconnecting
versus being at work and busy with our you know,
normal lives. We were just kind of there focusing on
our family, so it brought us closer together.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Tell us about Chase now as a five year old
and your dreams for Chase.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Chase now, he is so funny. He has really grown
into himself. He thinks that he can do anything in
the world, and so I let him believe that until
he does something that might hurt him and that I
take a stepback. But he just really loves being outdoors.
He loves going on the parks and the slides and
playing with his sister. His favorite game is hide and seek,
(11:15):
which he's not very good at. He just goes hides
in an open field. But I'll let him. And I
really hope that he just hate the word normal. But
I hope he just feels like himself. I hope he
feels that he can be who he is and not
(11:36):
care what other people say, what society says. And I
hope that I can be there to support him. And
I just hope that he's happy and successful for whatever
that means to him as he.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Grows Invsion, you have a thank you card in front
of you and you're writing it out to Children's Hospital
and those that you had contact with and worked with
the Children's hospital. What are some of the things that
thank you would say?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Just thank you for really honestly saving our son's life.
He would not be the boy he is today, He
would not be where he's at. And I just really
think the Children's staff were letting Cat and I be ourselves.
We were able to share joys with the staff. We
were also able to cry and you know, go through
grief with the staff, and they knew when we just
(12:28):
needed a moment to grieve and when they needed to
more be a champion and lift our spirits. And we
just really appreciate that them knowing those times to let
us grieve and just thank you for sharing their lives
with us, because you know, they would sit in the
room with us and just talk about whatever is going
on in the world to get our mind off of things,
and just being being a person and treating us like
(12:50):
a person versus being too sympathetic and pitying us for
the situation there we're in and just being a friend.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So people listening now or maybe trying to decide why
should I give it to Children's Nebraska and Children's Foundation.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
What would you say to.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Them that Children's not only saved my son's life, but
I've seen and heard so many stories of other children's
lives that he saves and families and even for those
that aren't able to be saved. They do so much.
They put in every effort and they are there for
the family through every step of whatever that family's journey is.
(13:28):
Children's is there for every step and treating you like
a person and not just a case number. Children's is
doing everything they can to improve. They are not afraid
to say, you know, we might not be the best
in this, but we will be the best. We are
getting there and we are doing every effort we can
to get there. And they just they try so hard
(13:51):
and they are there for their patients and families. Yeah,
through every step of the journey.
So all of you and your husband Kent, had tried
for years to get pregnant. You found out in March
of twenty nineteen that you were expecting and that your son,
Chase had a congenital heart defect. Not really what you're
expecting to hear. How did you find out and what
was your reaction at that time? I can only imagine.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
So we found out at a maternal funeral medicine, a
high specialist doctor appointment, and he came in the room
and said, huh, something looks weird on this ultrasound and
then said that there was some type of hole in
his heart. And I started sobbing, and he looked at
me and said, do you need a minute? Said no,
(00:42):
it's okay, keep going, and then he just kept trying
to explain it. So it was I just kind of
felt like, what in the world because my brother had
gone through that as well, so I just couldn't believe
that it was happening to us.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
So you'd already had that kind of episode in your face.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yes, yep, my brother also has kind of the same
type of heart defect as my son does. My husband
was thankfully with me. We knew that it was just
out of precaution that we were going. So they really
didn't think that they were going to find anything, but
just to be safe. He went with me because he
was also excited with our first kid, and so luckily
he was there.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So obviously when Shase was born, you had to spend
some time with him in the nick you but then
he went home and you were hoping that just regular
cardiology checkups and surgery maybe at six months was in
the picture.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
But tell us what happened to change that.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
So we went for the first week checkup and everything
was fine. His oxygen had dropped lower, but so his
average was supposed to be at seventy five percent and
usually it's supposed to between ninety five and one hundred,
and so they sent us home and then we did
the second week checkup and his oxygen was in the
fifties and they were like, nope, not going home. So
we were admitted right then in the middle of our point,
(02:00):
and he was placed on oxygen in the In the
pic you when you.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Found out that you were INDI going to have to
do this surgery thing right now? What was that like
having to hand change silver to a surgeon to that
tender age.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
There's really no words it. Actually, we had to go
through it a couple of times because it would get
rescheduled for more urgent cases that came in, so we'd
be all prepared to hand them over and then they
come and be like, sorry, we have to reschedule, and
then it happened again, Sorry we have to reschedule. Somebody
else's more urgent, And so part of you is very
(02:35):
selfish and you're like, no, my son needs this, and
you want to fight, but then you think of that
other family and if it is more urgent, obviously they
are going through something as well. So it's a very
very tricky emotion to sort through. But handing them over,
I just thought of you know, they say that, you know,
the baby's hard the size of a walnut, Like, how
(02:55):
in the world are they going to fix that? But yeah,
so it's just you just have to trust in your
doctors and and the team and in God. We really, yeah,
put a lot of faith in God. Sorry.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
When Chase was in surgery, what kind of conversations did
you and your husband have?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
We were very realistic on you know, what do we
do if he doesn't make it? You know, how do
we move forward. Do we try to have another kid?
Do we not? Because that's disrespectful. How do we honor him?
What will his life look like? Yeah, we had a
lot of realistic conversations about it, so excuse me. Yeah,
(03:43):
so we had a lot of honest conversations about what
life would look like, whether he made it and had
issues or whether he did not.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Tell us. How the surgery went and then what followed.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
So his surgery, according to the doctor, was quote textbook
everything went perfect. He handled everything well. And then we
were in the waiting room waiting for them to come
grab us, and it thirty minutes past, forty five minutes past,
an hour passed. Then the nurse came out and said,
(04:18):
you know, your son is, you know, acting up a
little bit. He's having some trouble. He's third spacing and
we're like what Basically he was his fluid from his
veins was going outside into his like skin, and he
just was not responding to the surgery well. And she said,
but we got it under control. It'll be fine, he'll
be good. We'll come get you in twenty thirty minutes.
(04:39):
Thirty minutes goes by, forty five minutes goes by. An
hour goes by, and then I hear code blue room
two o six, code blue, and code blue had becomes
something so common that I just like started to zone
it out. And then I went two o six, like
we're in two o six chases in two o six,
and I just fell to the floor. Sorry, I just
(05:04):
I did not think he was gonna make it. He
had our family was there and they were trying to
comfort us, and can I just didn't want any part
of it. We just kind of walked down the hall
and and just kind of were like, Okay, what do
we do? Like how is this gonna work? And so
eventually the doctor comes out and they bring us into
(05:24):
this little waiting room and a chaplet is sitting there,
and I'm like, why is there a chaplin here? Like
that's not good, and the surgeon just I will never
forget the look on his face. He just seems so
defeated and so empathetic to us. But he said, you know,
we just have to wait and see. And I said, well,
(05:44):
what does that mean? Like I don't know what that means?
And then he explained that he's on life support and
he has a machine breathing for him. And a machine
pumping blood through his body, and we just have to
wait and see if he's even gonna make it through
the night. And it was like three am at this point,
so yeah, it was rough. So they had to prepare
us for what his he would look like when we
(06:06):
got back there, because he was a little, tiny, five
pound thing, and they said he definitely did not look
like that anymore, and he had gained probably a good
five or plus pounds of fluids, so they had to
prepare us for what he would look like, and it
was rough.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Wait and see those words not something you want to
hear anymore.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
No, yeah, wait and see. It became a very common
thing told us at the hospital, like every time we
would try a new approach with Chase, well, we just
have to wait and see if this works, and then
it generally wouldn't work, and then okay, well we just
have to wait and see if this one works. Okay,
did it work? Oh nope? And then finally, you know,
the weight and sees were starting to become more positive.
(06:49):
So now we really try to take it in a
positive turn of we just have to wait and see
where he goes, because he has come so far that
the wait and see is I can't believe that we're
here and what we are seeing. And the weight was hard,
but it's been worth what we've been seeing with how
amazing he's doing now as an almost five year old.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
We just passed Thanksgiving. What does Thanksgiving mean to you?
It has a special meaning, we.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Understand, Yeah, it does. I know that the surgery date
doesn't always fall on the actual date of Thanksgiving every year,
but for us, Thanksgiving is his heart aniversary because he
went into surgery the day before Thanksgiving, and so Thanksgiving
we were imagining when we got pregnant, you know, the
little turkey butt outfits and you know, sharing them off
(07:41):
to our friends and families at Thanksgiving, and he wasn't
even able to wear clothes, he was so bloated from
the surgery. And so it just took a very different
meaning of instead of celebrating, you know, being with friends
and family and celebrating our you know, our thanks in
our life, we were fighting for his life and we
(08:04):
didn't know if he was strong enough to fight for us.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
But now Thanksgiving, but.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Now Thanksgiving is it really is Thanksgiving. We every year
we put a little box together for children's the pick
you staff for the nurses, because we are so thankful
that they take time away from their families, their lives,
their things that they're thankful for, and they come and
save these children's lives. They saved my son's life. So
(08:32):
we put a little box together with pictures of Chase
and some snacks and pop and just some you know,
candy and fun things to try to have a better
Thanksgiving when they're working in such a tough environment. Yeah,
so we just want to give back that thanks and
be thankful for where Chase is at now.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And I know Chase has a sister, Dakota. How is
this played out with your family?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
What is what Chase has gone through? What you have
gone through?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Grew up in a very similar situation. So my older
brother has a heart defect and also autism, and my
son has a heart defect and autism, and I'm the
younger sister and Dakota is the younger sister sister, so
it's a very similar situation. So we try to be
as open as we can with them for age appropriate
(09:22):
terminology and discussing with them. But really Coda just sees
him as her older brother. They fight like normal kids,
They get along and play like normal kids. So we
really try to make it just a part of normalcy
and not try to make it something that he's burdened
with and that she's burdened with as a sister. But
(09:44):
just this is what we have to do, and he
has these appointments and he has these things, and this
is how we support him. And then coda, this is
how we support you and just make it a very
normal life for him.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
In her you've been through a string of battles.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Without getting too personal, what did this do to you
as a couple.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
It Actually we joke that the hospital made us even
closer and stronger. And whenever we do like get into
a little disagreement where like we just need to go
spend the night in the hospital and then it will
be best buds again, because we did not fight once
in the hospital. We just realized that there were bigger
things to battle than you know, the little bickering things,
(10:27):
and we agreed on every step of the way of
what we were supposed to do to Chase, and we
just I don't know, we were up at three a m.
You know, watching the monitors and joking and having fun
and just kind of got to spend some time reconnecting
versus being at work and busy with our you know,
normal lives. We were just kind of there focusing on
our family, so it brought us closer together.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Tell us about Chase now as a five year old
and your dreams for Chase.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Chase now, he is so funny. He has really grown
into himself. He thinks that he can do anything in
the world, and so I let him believe that until
he does something that might hurt him and that I
take a stepback. But he just really loves being outdoors.
He loves going on the parks and the slides and
playing with his sister. His favorite game is hide and seek,
(11:15):
which he's not very good at. He just goes hides
in an open field. But I'll let him. And I
really hope that he just hate the word normal. But
I hope he just feels like himself. I hope he
feels that he can be who he is and not
(11:36):
care what other people say, what society says. And I
hope that I can be there to support him. And
I just hope that he's happy and successful for whatever
that means to him as he.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Grows Invsion, you have a thank you card in front
of you and you're writing it out to Children's Hospital
and those that you had contact with and worked with
the Children's hospital. What are some of the things that
thank you would say?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Just thank you for really honestly saving our son's life.
He would not be the boy he is today, He
would not be where he's at. And I just really
think the Children's staff were letting Cat and I be ourselves.
We were able to share joys with the staff. We
were also able to cry and you know, go through
grief with the staff, and they knew when we just
(12:28):
needed a moment to grieve and when they needed to
more be a champion and lift our spirits. And we
just really appreciate that them knowing those times to let
us grieve and just thank you for sharing their lives
with us, because you know, they would sit in the
room with us and just talk about whatever is going
on in the world to get our mind off of things,
and just being being a person and treating us like
(12:50):
a person versus being too sympathetic and pitying us for
the situation there we're in and just being a friend.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So people listening now or maybe trying to decide why
should I give it to Children's Nebraska and Children's Foundation.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
What would you say to.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Them that Children's not only saved my son's life, but
I've seen and heard so many stories of other children's
lives that he saves and families and even for those
that aren't able to be saved. They do so much.
They put in every effort and they are there for
the family through every step of whatever that family's journey is.
(13:28):
Children's is there for every step and treating you like
a person and not just a case number. Children's is
doing everything they can to improve. They are not afraid
to say, you know, we might not be the best
in this, but we will be the best. We are
getting there and we are doing every effort we can
to get there. And they just they try so hard
(13:51):
and they are there for their patients and families. Yeah,
through every step of the journey.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.