CAF Story | Rebekah’s Fight
Video / December 20, 2019
Transcript
In July 2018, I had an ultrasound that Rebekah had heart abnormalities that were quite different from a normal heart.
So, I went back to Petawawa where I was posted and talked to the medical staff and talked to my chain of command what had just happened. My pregnancy was now high risk. The chain of command said: "Whatever you need, we'll support you."
It was decided by my obstetrician in Ottawa and by the military that I would move to Ottawa to make sure that if I did go into labour, I'd be at CHEO, at Ottawa General in case once she's born, she has all the staff there that she needs to support her. And on the 7th of November, Rebekah was born.
She looked better than they expected. We were elated. We had our miracle. And then, she had high bilirubin counts. And then, she had the heterotaxy syndrome. She has congenital heart defects, arteries that go around the heart where there shouldn't be arteries and one side of the heart was much bigger and they noticed there were holes in her heart basically like a colander.
They realized that she had biliary atresia. Biliary atresia can only be fixed by liver transplant. So, over the next few weeks, we saw Rebekah receive so many tests. Seeing your new baby get blood work for the first time is heart-wrenching. I had to leave the room, I had to go, walk down the hall.
We wanted to bring her home for Christmas. I think bringing home your new baby for Christmas is a big step for any parent. And to have her lying in the hospital when you wake up on Christmas morning, it's not fair. It's not fair that any family has to do that.
It was the day before they said we could take her home for one day for Christmas and then she got an infection in her lungs, which led to septic shock. Rebekah was attached to 12 or 15 different medications that were keeping her alive.
She fought through the septic shock and two weeks later, she had her heart surgery. She did great. She did better than they expected. They fixed all the holes that they wanted to fix. And still to this day, now she's 2 and her heart is doing awesome.
And all through that time, we were in contact with the military and they were juggling, trying to figure out: "Okay, what are we gonna do to help them? What do they need?" The military did everything they could to support us through this process.
On the 7th of May, Rebekah had her liver transplant. I was her donor.
♪ Get out of your head young one ♪
♪ Don't let the fear consume you ♪
♪ Wander as far as you wanna go ♪
♪ And use that light to follow through ♪
♪ We are the ones to pretend but ♪
♪ We are the ones to never give in ♪
♪ No matter what the world throws at us ♪
And the feeling of preparing yourself to be able to give your daughter another go and just the answer that's gonna take away all her pain and her suffering, it's amazing. It's the most amazing feeling ever.
♪ Don't speak a word of regret ♪
♪ Your defeat won't go unnoticed ♪