Some dear friends, Chris and Carrie just recieved news (Friday) that their son suffers from a heart condition that will require a heart transplant. We are very thankful for the opportunity to spend time with them this summer on our vacation.
We have had a special tradition for the last 6 years with the Tuttles and several other families to spend Labor Day week/weekend vacationing together. Our hearts are heavy and I hope you'll join us in prayer for this family. I don't usually post other people's personal stories on this blog. I'm sharing this information with you, because I trust that you, our friends and family will join us as we
intercede in prayer for these friends, so needing God's strength to get through. I'm including some details so that we can pray specifically.
Heath is 9 months old. Chris very recently (in the last month) accepted a call as senior pastor at a church in Durham, NC. Carrie has very recently (in the last month) resigned from a full-time ministry position to devote herself to the needs of the family as a stay-at-home momma to their two children, Heath and Ella Brooks. Here's a portion of the email we recieved yesterday from Carrie's brother, Pete.
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"... our little Heath is a very sick little guy. Chris took him to his 9 month check up on Thursday afternoon where the Pediatrician heard some sort of heart murmur. He sent them immediately over to a Pediatric Cardiologist for further evaluation, who in turn sent them on to UNC Childrens hospital where Heath was admitted on Thursday night for testing and observation.
Heath was diagnosed with Restrictive Cardiomyopathy, which basically means that he has a thickening of the walls of his heart. This condition does not allow his heart muscle to relax and expand to fill with blood fully before it contracts again, which causes blood to build up in his lungs and into the rest of his system. For any of you that may understand medical terms, this condition mirrors the signs and symptoms of someone in congestive heart failure. I will put this in the words that the cardiologist said to the family last night, "none of this is or will be easy to deal with, but we don't sugar coat anything, it just makes it harder to deal with in the long run."
They are attempting to use medications to treat the symptoms of his sick heart, but the end result is that Heath needs a heart transplant very soon. After all of the testing is done he will be placed near or at the top of the national heart transplant list in the coming week.
Again, the TEAM of Cardiologists and other specialists are doing everything known to man in an effort to treat the little guy. They are going to continue to monitor him through the weekend and into early next week. They have a few more tests they would like to do on him the first of the week and then he will probably be discharged from the hospital so he can be at home with his family.
He is in a fantastic place and being cared for by an unbelievable group of people! True saints! As of right now, he is showing very few signs and symptoms that he is sick. This morning when we were there he was sitting up talking (baby talk of coarse) and playing with toys with big smiles for everyone! As I'm sure you can imagine Chris and Carrie are having a very rough time right now. They apprieciate everyone's thoughts, prayers, and offerings of help. They have asked for everyone to hold off on phone calls and emails for a fews days to let them work through this tradgedy together. The best thing we can all do is pray for Carrie, Chris, Ella and especially our little Heath."
