A personal story

1. An Undesired but Welcome Journey
2 Corinthians 4: 7:9 (NIV)
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from
us. We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but
not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
There are roads you want to travel down and ones you would prefer to avoid. This seems pretty
universal for human beings, but especially true for parents. We all desire to see our children grow up to
be wise, strong, grounded in Christ…and healthy. Health is where our journey begins.
My wife, Patty, and I have been blessed with four wonderful children – three girls and one boy. The two
oldest both had outstanding health when small except for the usual ear infections and colds. Our third
child, Katarina, experienced an ailment that causes organs to shift internally. In her case, they actually
exited her body. The shock was tremendous to my wife and I both and it happened a total of three times
before things normalized. We never imagined this would be preparing us for something far more
dangerous.
Our 4th
child, Sarah Ann, was born on September 10, 2008. She was very jaundiced but also a happy
baby. She ate well and wasn’t lethargic. But the jaundice wouldn’t go away. Our pediatrician wasn’t
concerned so neither were we. Our other children doted on Sarah and she reveled in the attention as
most tiny ones do. We noticed over the weeks that Sarah’s stomach was distended but expected that to
be a result of her breastfeeding so well.
November 13, 2008 - The day our world exploded
I came home at the end of my work week, just like any other Friday. Patty had taken Sarah for her two
month appointment. I clearly remember my wife’s face when I walked in the door that Friday. There was
something wrong. “We have to go to Children’s emergency room now.” Not the words one likes to hear,
ever. Our pediatrician had been disturbed by the ongoing jaundice and some other signs and ordered
full labs for Sarah. The tests had shown alarmingly high numbers in regard to her liver. So we loaded
Sarah and our three other kids – Patty had planned a movie night for them, so they were fully garbed in
pajamas and ready to partake of some popcorn – and headed off to my parents. We deposited our other
children there not really knowing how long we would be gone. Oh, if we could have foreseen the impact
this would have on every member of our family. But hindsight, as they say, is twenty-twenty.
That night and the three days following it were some of the longest of our lives. Not only were we
separated from our three oldest kids but Sarah was diagnosed with a life-threatening liver disease,
biliary atresia, which affects about 1 in every 20,000 children. The liver either has no bile ducts or they
are very small, allowing bile to build up inside the liver, causing irreparable damage. Sarah’s first
surgery, called the Kasai, was the following Monday.
This is the beginning of another story, the story where the Body of Christ clearly demonstrated its love
for one another. We were never alone for any moment from Monday morning through the end of
Sarah’s surgery that evening. I can’t even begin to relate how important that was to Patty’s well-being.

2. Yes, our friends love us and we are grateful for that but the kind of love that was displayed during this
trial and beyond, to an eventual liver transplant, transcends just “friendship”. This was, plain and simple,
Jesus loving two of the hurting members of his Body with overwhelming grace and mercy.
With a young liver transplant recipient in our home, our lives will clearly never be the same. It’s not just
the trauma that change us but the face of Christ.