Matthew and Lauren had a wonderful marriage. After tying the knot some 20 years ago, these two devout Christians wanted a big family and they were blessed with three girls: Ali, then Naomi, then Layne.
Then, 37-year-old Lauren got pregnant again. And this time, they found out, this time it would be a boy. They loved their girls to pieces, but they were just thrilled about having a little baby boy. They wanted to name him after his dad. He would be Matthew Jr. And the young girls, oh, they just couldn’t wait to hold their new brother. It was a very special time for all of them.
But something happened during the latter stages of her pregnancy. Something… terrible. Lauren had what doctors called a very rare medical emergency. She had developed an amniotic fluid embolism that can cause a pregnant woman’s heart to just stop beating. So she underwent an emergency c-section to get the baby out. And she died soon after without ever having seen her newborn son.
But that horror continued when Matthew Jr. was rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit. He was suffering from a significant brain injury after being denied oxygen for such a long period of time. And all dad Matthew could do, in this tremendous time of grief after just losing the love of his life, was pray.
His little boy was fighting for his life. And he fought. And he fought. Then, after some time, little Matthew opened his eyes. And he started breathing on his own, and he started making cooing noises. He even gripped his dad’s fingers, something that the doctors said was impossible.
But, sure enough, he was doing it. For many days, the little boy’s dad and the little boy’s sisters prayed for him. And when his story went viral, millions of people around the world prayed for him. But he started taking a turn for the worse.
He was having severe cognitive issues and had an airway tube and feeding tube inserted. The Doctors said he could not live without them. So Matthew had to make that decision that none of us ever wants to make. But he made it. He decided to remove his little boy from his life support, and let him join with his mom up in heaven. So he leaned over his little boy, and with tears falling from his eyes he told him how much he loved him.
Says Matthew: “What I’ve learned is that miracles are miracles whether we choose to see them or not. My miracle was having my soul mate by my side for almost 20 years and then being so blessed to give her four gorgeous babies.
My miracle is holding my son for as many precious moments as possible and when the time comes, lifting him up to his mommy so that she can hold him for the first time in paradise.”
