After a perfect pregnancy, Courtney was induced the morning of Tuesday, May 14 for the long-anticipated arrival of our second son Corbin. An event-free labor quickly turned tragic as she was rushed for an emergency C-section due to various serious complications. Turned out that her uterus had ruptured, an extremely rare and dangerous condition that made both Courtney and Corbin septic. Worse, Corbin’s brain had been deprived of oxygen for quite some time so that he was actually born dead – no heartbeat, pulse, or breathing. Doctors were eventually able to revive Corbin to the point that he regained a heart beat and a pulse through intubation. But it was quickly apparent that the damage had already been done to the brain, as Corbin did not respond to any stimuli and showed clear signs of prolonged oxygen deprivation.
Corbin was soon life-lined to Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC, where he was immediately diagnosed with Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE), a type of brain damage that occurs when an infant's brain doesn't receive enough oxygen and blood flow. Attending doctors treated him for Neonatal Encephalopathy following signs and symptoms of abnormal neurological function from birth. He was hooked up to a continuous EEG and various other tests to determine the extent of any brain activity.
Although Corbin’s physical functions improved tremendously and we continued to hold out hope, various tests of brain functioning revealed the worst-case scenario – that Corbin had no brain activity and was in a comatose state. He had many seizures, for which he was given medicine to reduce. On Wednesday, May 15, Corbin’s medical team confirmed that his condition had not improved and provided what his future would look like following this extent of brain injury. It was unknown whether he would ever “wake up” from his coma; if he ever did, he would likely be in a vegetative state and unable to interact with anything, be aware of his surroundings, feel any emotion, make any movement, etc. Barring a miracle, our son would never walk or talk, smile or laugh, feel happy or sad, or have any sense of awareness or interaction with this world.
With Courtney unable to participate in such a gut-wrenching process, I made the decision to discontinue Corbin’s life support after our families met with his medical team. We had come to terms with the fact that Corbin wasn’t created like this – he ended up like this after a traumatic injury, just like any other accident that could happen to any one of us. Corbin passed away the evening of May 19th.
Corbin's life, though short, has made a lasting impact on many. We will always be grateful that God did give us one HUGE miracle in saving Courtney's life, but we will always miss our sweet boy and all the milestones along the way.
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We are looking forward to participating in the Sweet Walk to Remember in October and are hoping you can join us. Either way, would you please consider supporting Sweet Grace Ministries and the families they serve in 2024? They have been a huge support for us as we navigate this life of loss and this is a way you can help them be able to help other families like they have us.
