Team Captain Update No. 2
February 28, 2011
MISSION SPOTLIGHT: The Linz Family
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| Carter Thomas Linz~ Age 2 |
How do you write about a story you never expected? How do you do it without being a martyr yet just tell your story knowing so many others have it worse. I saw that last week in the PICU at Johns Hopkins. I am covered with guilt because as a parent it always falls back on what did I/we do. There are no answers. They gave us no answers. There were no expectations of us ever having a child. We had had multiple losses.
I lost my parents in 2001 and 2004 from heart disease. I met my husband in 2004. He is in the military and so incredible. From day one we wanted a family. After multiple losses we had Carter at 3:12 am on 1/2/2009.
Carter Thomas Linz arrived like we Pemberton-Linz do - with gusto. He was born weighing 1lb 8oz and measuring12 inches long. He was 17 weeks early and the odds were against him. We always said to them, if he fights, we will too, no option and might I add he pinched his neonatologist when she was trying to intubate him. He is a fighter…my “Rocky”.
Carter spent 165 days in the NICU. He was the “mayor” of NNMC but they saved his life. We are forever grateful. During Carter’s NICU stay he had numerous surgeries-one on his heart, one on his eyes, and one for a hernia-a brain bleed, a G-tube to help him eat and a lot of uncertainty. We were told he would leave the hospital with a trach and blind.
Throughout our journey with Carter, we were told multiple times there wasn’t anything we could do.. In my mind I went through all of the “hate”. I was broken and NO ONE can tell you anything to fix that when it is your child.
Today, Carter is growing and thriving and just celebrated his 2nd birthday. He is currently on O2 (soon to be off and he never needed a trach thank goodness!) and can see great, with his glasses. He also works hard every day to overcome challenges with Cerebral Palsy. Yes, we still have challenges ahead of us, but Carter’s story has just begun…he is meant for amazing things and Daddy and Mommy will be right there with him. God is great.
Story by Carter’s Mommy, Deanna Linz
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