Holden Faith

Our Miraculous Journey...

OUR MIRACULOUS JOURNEY...

I feel like my family has been blessed with a second chance. In 2008, our son Holden was born extremely sick. He had heart defects, his lungs had not fully formed, he had pulmonary hypertension and he had severe reflux. At 10 weeks old he came home from the hospital on oxygen, a feeding pump and a heart monitor. During one of our many hospital visits doctors determined that he had pulmonary vein stenosis. They explained that it was inoperable and in most cases was fatal. They said they did not know if he had "two days, two weeks, two months, two years or two decades." The words cut like a knife.

I prayed like I had never prayed before. I asked God for a miracle. I asked anyone who would listen...to pray for Holden. Even in the darkest of hours, I heard a voice telling me everything was going to be alright. It was that voice that gave me the faith and strength that I needed for myself, my family and my son. Today, Holden is 4 1/2 years old and is doing amazingly well. He's off the oxygen (which doctors said he'd need indefinitely), he's off his feeding pump and he's off all medications. He is truly a miracle.

I share this story because I feel like we've been to hell and back...and I'm so grateful to have made it to where we are today. But I saw how dark those days can get. There were hours when I was scared that he might not make it to see the sun rise. But through it all I had FAITH. I honestly can't imagine going through this journey without it. I am in the process of writing a book about our experience. I hope we can inspire others to believe, even amidst what seems impossible. Have FAITH. If not in God, have faith in something. Have Faith in yourself...or simply in that things WILL get better. Keep HOLDEN Faith!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

I am writing a book to share our story and hopefully inspire others to have faith when the road gets dark. As part of this process, I went back and read blog entries I had never re-read and sorted through photos from the past several years. I put together a short video and I have mixed feelings about sharing it. On one hand, it makes me feel very vulnerable. However, on the other hand, I think it shows that while the journey was not always easy, we tried to make the best of every day. None of us knows what God has in store for us. But if we keep HOLDEN FAITH we can make it through anything!