Our Little Buddy
Our son, John Clinton, came into this world November 13, 2006 and became an angel on April 30, 2007. He weighed in at 7lbs 11oz and 21 inches long with big blue eyes and dark brow hair. John Clinton was born with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia which was not diagnosed prior to delivery. He was delivered at Huntsville Hospital and was transfered to Birmingham, Alabama's Children's Hospital. Little did we know he would enter Children's Hospital on November 13th and never leave. The N.I.C.U. became our home over the next twenty-four weeks. John Clinton was placed on ECMO the day he was born and remained there for thirty-three days. The diaphragmatic hernia was repaired on ECMO and he came through the surgery like a champ. Six weeks later our little champ was extubated for the first time. We were so nervous yet excited to be free of machines. John Clinton had problems eating so the doctors advised a fundo and g-tube surgery. We agreed and all went well, he even came back from surgery off of the ventilator. Wow, everyone was so proud of him! He remained off of the ventilator for two months and was getting ready for his last surgery to repair an inguinal hernia so we could head home. The day before his scheduled repair he ran a high temperature and the surgery was called off. We were devistated because we had dreams of driving off with our little man in the car seat he had never ridden in and sleeping in the nursery that we worked so hard on so it would be perfect for our little boy. It was determined through x-ray that he had developed pneumonia and three days later would have to be intubated again. Antibiotics were started immediatly and one month later he was extubated again. What a fighter he is!!! Our little man beat pneumonia!!! John Clinton remained off the ventilator for three weeks and suddenly began having breathing difficulties. The pneumonia was back as well as 100cc of fluid on his lung. He quickly began going down hill and was placed back on the ventilator and three days later on the oscillator. The doctors and nurses at Children's tried everything to make him well but the fight was too big and at 8:01 p.m. on April 30th, 2007 John Clinton died in my arms. We thank God for giving us our little boy and feel blessed to have had him in our lives for almost six months. We miss him terribly and it pains us not to have him in our arms where he was almost everyday. John Clinton taught everyone how fragile life is and how we need to savor every moment we have here with our loved ones. Most of all he taught us what a fighting spirit really is! He changed more peoples lives in twenty-four weeks than most do in a lifetime without saying a single word. His job here was complete! We long for the day we can hold him again. He will never be forgotten and we will always grieve our loss but we know this is part of Gods perfect plan and we will see him again. Thank you all for allowing me to share with you the life of our "little buddy".