Hearts of Courage

My son Marcus survived his second heart surgery with complications that resulted in his need for a Tracheotomy and Ventilator support.

What was suppose to be a two-week stay at the hospital turned into eight hard, long grueling months of commuting from work to hospital, overnight stays, cafeteria food, and sleepless nights in a chair by Marcus’ bedside.

I have a child with a tracheotomy and a ventilator. I needed to be able to accept that or I could not bring my son home.

When Marcus came out of surgery, and I saw him for the first time, I did not cry…I looked at him with all the love I had before the trach and I knew that I had made it. I knew that I would be able to go through this with him and we would somehow move on with our lives.

About 8 months later, we were at a doctor’s visit and as we wheeled Marcus into the crowded elevator, a woman next to me gasped, “Oh, what’s wrong with him?” as she stared at my son.

Puzzled I looked at my child, I did not notice anything out of the ordinary, no hair was out of place and I did not see anything oozing out of his nose, he was asleep.

“What’s wrong? Nothing is wrong, he’s asleep.”

I realized then that I was exactly where I needed to be.

Brigitte C. Ramirez
Marcus’ mom.

www.heartsofcourage.com/grieving.html