Memorial Service Information

William David Swanson

A Memorial Service for William will be held on Thursday July 24, 2014 at 11:00 am at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (607 N Greene St, Greensboro, NC 27401).  Sara and Jonathan ask that this be a celebration of William's short life with us.

In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been set up for a bench that they can take with them wherever the Marine Corps sends them.  Click here to access the memorial fund.

The outpouring of love and prayers make them stronger every day. It's going to be a long road, but every minute of every day gets them a little closer to their new normal.

Sweet William

It's with a heavy heart that I write this blog update on Sara and Jon's behalf this morning. Last night around 9 PM, our sweet William died. His wonderful doctors, Drs Mill and McNull and everyone else who oversaw his surgeries, did everything they could to save him but by last night they found that his bleeding was too extensive. The decision was made by Jon and Sara to turn off the machine keeping him alive. He left us quickly and without any pain. Sara and Jon have deeply appreciated everyone's prayers, and need them now more than ever. No arrangements have been made to memorialize William but we will keep everyone updated through this blog. 

Our family has felt so loved through this process from all of you. The outpouring of well-wishes and prayers, and Sara and Jon's own steadfast faith in God, have kept them going in this trying time. All day yesterday we knew in our hearts that things were looking bad. Our prayers for William were for him to find peace in whatever capacity God saw fit, and last night we believe that He answered our prayers by letting that sweet boy go without pain or anguish. Thank you again for all the love you've shown my sister and Jon during this time.

George

Update

Surgery didn't go quite as planned. He had more blockage than they originally thought. The surgeon did clear all of the blockage, but when they took him off bypass his left ventricle wasn't functioning. He opened him back up and tweaked a few things and was able to get some function back. Because of this, he thought it was worth it to put him on ECMO (life support for heart and lungs). They are hoping this rests his heart enough for him to regain full function. We have a 3-5 day window and then there is nothing more they can do. We didn't get to see him until almost midnight yesterday so it was a long, long day for everyone involved. This morning they put him on dialysis to help rest his kidneys. They would not be taking these steps if they thought he couldn't recover. The doctor said it's 50/50.

Our God is bigger than this. William is His sweet little boy. We've just been blessed to call him ours on earth. Please continue praying for our family. We need strength to help him be strong on his journey.

Pre-op appointment

Hi everyone!  Today we had the pre-op appointment for William. We met with the surgeon's nurse, anesthesiologist, had a chest X-ray, blood work and EKG done. It was a busy day!

The nurse clarified a lot about tomorrow's surgery. The doctor will open his chest (2-3 inch incision) and he will be put on bypass. The surgery will start at 8:00am and last about 6 hours which includes about an hour of anesthesia prep. We will be at the hospital at 6:30am to get him prepped. He is the first and only surgery for Dr. Mill tomorrow.

He will be fixing two areas of narrowing. One is the aortic valve and the other is at the top of the aortic curve. They will use donated tissue to fix these areas. The pulmonary artery also had blockage, but they believe he will grow out of that so there is no need to fix it. The nurse says it is not common for babies to have this much blockage, but it is something they have seen and have fixed.

One of the biggest concerns is his blood pressure. Since his heart is beating twice as hard (literally) as it should, they are worried that once they open the valve his body won't know what to do with a normal blood flow. Depending on his reaction will depend on his time in the PICU. They are thinking he will be there for about 3-4 days for any normal reaction. During this time he will be under sedation and have a feeding tube.  He will have a lot of IVs and monitoring devices hooked up to him.

Today went as good as could be expected. Hopefully tomorrow will be the same!  Thank you for the continued prayers. I'll keep you posted as much as I can!

"When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer."
-Corrie Ten Boom

A woman who fears The Lord is to be praised

11 days until surgery

Until then....

We carry on with our normal lives. Just because we receive devastating news doesn't mean the world stops. We might wish it could...but it won't.  We have to balance our normal lives with the huge elephant still standing in the room.

From the outside, William seems fine. His hands and feet get clammy and I panic at the mere sight of him breathing too heavy or quickly. Other than that, he's a normal little three month old!  He is starting to kick his feet, smile and move his hands all around. He coo's and babbles and is very alert.

We've gotten a lot of the logistics figured out and I am SO thankful for family that has offered to help. Our support system is amazing and we couldn't do it with them.  A lot of details are still up in the air so we are having to be very flexible and patient right now.

Emotionally, I keep reminding myself that I am strong and will remain strong for my boys. I keep going back to Proverbs 31 and trying to match up to what a wife of noble character is.

25 She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.
29 "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
31 Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

I've always been drawn to that passage, but now it impacts me more than it ever has. 

Thank you all again for the continued thoughts, prayers, cards and everything else. We are blessed to have so many prayer chains going across the country!!