Read This

I don't necessarily post links to things very often, for reasons that I'm lazy and I tend to just keep things to myself. However, I really want to share this. A friend of mine had posted a link on facebook to a blog and said "This little boy needed a lot of prayers." The title of the blog caught my attention, and as it turns out it was a blog which was recently created so I was able to read all the posts and "catch up" quickly. The story is tragic, heartbreaking, and yet I can't stop reading.


This is the story about Eddie, who is a 3 year old in the Seattle area. Until recently he appeared to be perfectly healthy, however that all changed when he suddenly collapsed a few weeks ago. The family discovered Eddie has a heart condition called cardio myopathy, which basically means the heart is working extra hard, grows large and doesn't function well (not enough blood/oxygen is moved around). There is no "cure" for this condition, the only thing that can be done is either a combination of medications to make the heart not work as hard, or to have a heart transplant. This little boy and his family is having to face a heart transplant in the very near future. Just imagine that on New Years they thought their life was normal, blessed... and now everything has changed. They are facing a huge medical procedure (if they find a heart for him and if he survives the surgery) and a lifetime of fighting to stay alive (because surviving the transplant surgery is really the easy part...).

 As I said, it is heartbreaking but I can't stop reading it. Maybe that's because in some weird way I feel drawn to this little boy, or I feel like I relate to him. Is this what my family went through? Was it like this? The constant waiting, the emotional stress? To be 3 and have no idea what you really up against. To be fighting for your life and have no idea.

 But I also feel so incredibly lucky. I am so lucky that my heart defect was something which could be fixed by a surgery, that I didn't need a transplant. I am lucky I had parents (like Eddie's parents) who did everything they could to make sure they knew all of the treatment options, and picked the best treatment, the best doctors. I am lucky my parents were advocates for me, fought for me - but at the same time never let me know what was going on, or how gravely serious and scary it was. I was lucky. I AM lucky. I am lucky that I am a "success." I wish Eddie and his family the same.

As I said... I'm not usually a person who shares things. But please, take a moment, read Eddie's story, and say a prayer for this little boy who is literally fighting for his life.