To tell anyone about Christian would take many books, but I’ll try to hit the basics. Christian was born sick. He had Gastrosis, which meant in his case that his small bowel, stomach and part of his liver on the outside of his body. Like many kids born this way, he had 2 surgeries to fix this problem. Though this time little Christian was also fighting problems breathing because he was born early. I knew, even being so young at the time, that my baby was very sick and no one new if he was going to make it , but Christian pulled through.

They put Christian on IV fluids that gave him everything we would eat without him eating. He was not able to eat much as a baby but I really don’t think he missed it very much. He was mostly fed with a formula through a tube in his stomach by a pump throughout the day.

After six months, the hospital PICU unit for babies did not know what more to do for him. So they sent him to a bigger hospital with more experience with kids sick like Christian. At this hospital they did one more surgery and found the problem. With this fixed he finally went off IV fluids for the first time at the age of 7 months.

At the age of two, Christian wasn’t getting better. He was still on the IV fuilds and couldn’t eat. The doctors determined that IV access was getting limited and there wasn’t much more they could do for him. He needed a new bowel and there weren’t many hospitals that could give him a transplant. Transplant was the only thing we could do.

After looking into the hospitals , we chose Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida. Being a small town girl, I was scared to go to the big city. I thought it was just like the movies. I was only 17 years old at the time. Christian wasn’t scared at all. He walked up to the doctors and played with them. I thought then he was going to teach me a lot. Who would ever think it would be so much.

Christian received his first transplant in July of 1997. I was so proud of how well he did. He had very little rejection. Soon after having the transplant, they began to take Christian off the IV fluids and feed this new bowel with a constant feed. Just a couple of weeks later Christian came off the IV fluids and was looking a great deal better. This is when the Golf Tournament began to help us.

It was hard for my mom and dad to help us there and keep our home here going. The committee held the tournament to help pay for the apartment that Christian had to stay in for two months before he could go home. Then there was also no money for the flight home. The committee was able to help us with all of this.

After four years and many different problems Christian need another transplant. The bowel he received in 1997 began not to work at all. So Christian went back to Miami and was relisted. This time we had to stay in Miami for the transplant to come in. After a little bit of a wait Christian received his second transplant.

Things didn’t get much better for him. He still was very sick and back on the IV fluids. I didn’t think much would help. The doctor worked and worked over time to fix this second bowel. But not much helped and Christian had been in Miami a year now. Other problems began. His kidneys began to shut down and his blood pressure was really high. Also his blood sugars were getting higher and higher. He came home for a week to visit and ended right back in Miami for these problems. Doctors began discussing the possibility that Christian may need another transplant. This time he was going to need an eight organ transplant. The thought scared me but nothing was decided yet. A couple of months later, Christian was put back on the list. This time he was getting sicker and sicker and needed organs very soon.

About 3 months later, Christian received his transplant in March of 2003. He began to bounce back. He had only a few problem breathing but that was Christian. A true fighter. He got off his TPN and was on his way to out patient when something went wrong. He became very sick. His blood pressure was dropping and his blood counts were not right. He needed a blood transfusion every day. Things didn’t look good at all. He breathing got worse and the machine was doing all the work and I knew that it was time to call the family. On August 19, 2003 at 8:32 AM Christian passed away.

Although, this is a short medical history, that is not all of what Christian was. He was a fighter and brave but he was sweet and kind. He loved to help anyone he could. I have seen him hold the hands on many kids that were scared and talk to kids that didn’t know what was happening. Christian loved to play and loved to be near all type of kids. He never cared about being sick. He was a kid and loved being a kid. He knew more pain in his little life than most people ever would, but he love life.