How Does One Deal With the Loss of a Child?

Never in a million years did Susanne ever think that she would be writing a sympathy card for someone that had lost a child. There couldn't possibly be anything more devastating in the world. Susanne stumbled upon this awful news on accident when she went to drop something off for the parents of a sweet baby boy named Sam Oliver.

She had met his lovely parents last week when she was up in Boston for Paxton's pre-op work up for his heart surgery. They were staying at the same house that Leah and Susanne were at. Surprisingly, they were the first people that Susanne had spent time talking to that were going through a similar experience as her. It was actually very comforting to hear that she wasn't alone in this world. It was also nice to have her feelings and emotions validated. She often questioned whether her thought process was appropriate at times. She found it difficult to always be positive about her situation, which often lead her to be very hard on herself during those weaker moments. It broke her heart to know that there were others out there experiencing the same struggles and challenges that she was. She got to learn a lot about Sam over the course of the week. She even saw pictures of their sweet angel. He was about as old as Paxton and had been on a similar journey as well. She was hoping nothing but the best for their whole family.

Everyone got to meet Sam's parents when they came back up with Susanne and Paxton for his cardiac surgery. Their story hit a little too close to home for all. Without a question, they were all put on the evergrowing prayer list. Scott and Susanne kept crossing their path throughout the week. It was almost as if God purposefully put them in each other's lives for some reason. They were able to lend each other as much support as they possible could, given their individual circumstances. In talking with the parents, they got to learn even more about little Sam. He was so strong and had been through quite a bit for such a young guy. He was almost three weeks out from his latest heart surgery, but still required the assistance of a heart and lung bypass machine. It was something called ECMO, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, which pumped his blood out of his body through a membrane that removed the carbon dioxide and then added oxygen. The oxygenated blood would then be returned to him. Unfortunately, without this machines assistance, he would not survive on his own. The hope was that eventually he would be strong enough to not need it, but at this time...his life depended on it. As the weeks went on, his kidneys began to fail and one of his lung lobes became consolidated. He was truly fighting for his life. Throughout this entire time, the parents never left his bedside. They would read to him and hold his hand. They would kiss him and talk to him to give him comfort. It was so unbelievable that he was now no longer with us. Susanne just prayed that they would be able to dig deep to continue to fight through the pain. She knew that the heartache would be overwhelming, but hopefully the fond memories of sweet Sam Oliver would get them through.