In May 1967 my husband was born emergency c-section to his young mother of 19. With fresh news of her husband’s army unit “activated” for Vietnam, Debby finally went into labor. ONE MONTH overdue!
Something however, was terrible wrong. Debby was put under for an emergency C-section and her baby boy was whisked into surgery at an hour old. David was born with an Esophageal atresia (EA). The upper part of his esophagus disconnected with the lower half leading to his stomach. He could not eat.
He also had the very rare deformity Tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) – an abnormal connection between the upper part of the esophagus to the trachea (or windpipe). He could not swallow.
Surgery to correct had successfully been performed once in California that year. The acting physician that day at St Dominic’s Hospital (Jackson, Mississippi)… just happened to have witnessed that remarkable surgery on a new born. He then performed the 2nd on David.
As God would have it, the added month spent in the womb saved his life. Unlike laser surgeries of today, this procedure involved full-torso incision and months with a feeding tube to his stomach. The long surgery with tiny lungs exposed, left him susceptible to pneumonia for years.
He spent much of his childhood in an oxygen tent at home and endured repeat dilatation to stretch his esophagus. But with so little information available regarding this condition, his parents treated him as any other healthy child. Even today, he says he never “felt sickly.”
It’s always amazing to look back and see the Hand of God! When no one was prepared… God had prepared a surgeon. When no one could’ve paid… the military covered the cost. When the family felt alone… the local news caught the story and every church in Jackson prayed. And when life seemed overwhelming to the young couple… deployment was called off!
God did that! And He will do this too.
ForGlorySake! –Anna
“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalms 139:13
