12/14/2012
This was written by Stacey Mecham (Hayley's mom)
Here is Hayley Mecham's story in a nutshell:
Hayley was born with muscular dystrophy. This was a surprise to us, because Jesse and I are both carries of the recessive gene that causes her particular type. This means any child we have has a 75% chance of being "normal" and a 25% chance of having muscular dystrophy. No one in either of our families has ever had muscular dystrophy.
Hayley is generally weak. At 9 months, she had finally gained head control and was gaining trunk control. But she could not roll over, or sit up, or many other things that most babies do. However, she can out-smile anyone. She has always been happy and positive while in the hospital or at the many doctor appointments we have had. Hayley cannot cough very well because of her weakness. She had been sick for the past few months. Mostly general congestion, possibly worsened by teething.
Hayley started showing symptoms of possibly a flu-like virus on Thanksgiving. She was throwing up, very congested and exhausted. She slept a lot over the weekend and especially on Monday and Tuesday. I stayed home with her for a few hours on Wednesday before I went to work. We both work full time as we cannot financially make it with just one of us working at this time and part time opportunities were not available for me. My sister watches Hayley and plays dress up with her. She is the best baby sitter :)
Since Hayley had been so tired, we thought rest would be best for her. After a doctor visit, chest x-rays, and starting a new antibiotic, her pediatrician said it would be ok to keep her home if we wanted to, as we have a hospital basically set up at our home. We kept her home as we thought she would heal faster in a familiar environment. The doctor said we could always go up to Doernbechers if she got worse or we felt uncomfortable.
Wednesday night we got home from work and Hayley looked exhausted. She gave us weak smiles but I felt bad seeing her so tired. Jesse ran to the gym and I started making dinner and muffins. I like to make a big batch of muffins and freeze them so we can grab them when we unexpected go to the hospital. I was considering taking Hayley in that night. I was going to talk to Jesse when he got home from the gym.
About 10 minutes after he left, as I was talking to Hayley and trying to get her to smile, she took a breath but because of the congestion and mucus in her airway, she couldn't breathe. I won't go into details because the next few minutes were awful. The paramedics came quickly and preformed CPR on her for 25 mins.
The fact that her heart started again was a miracle. The doctors at the hospital, while they were performing CPR told me that she probably wasn't going to make it. They told me, "we practice medicine, but that's all we can do. We can't do miracles and what Hayley needs is a miracle" Well, God provided a miracle, as he keeps doing each day.
Hayley was life flighted to Doernbecher on Wednesday night. This is where my posts started. Well, my first post was from the ambulance. As they were loading her up and I couldn't get a hold of my husband, I knew I had to get the word out so that people would pray! So I sent out a call that people would pray, and tell everyone they knew and ask them to pray. Facebook is amazing. I believe that the reason her heart started beating again is due in part to the fact that in just 25 minutes, already several hundreds of people were praying for Hayley, even without knowing the details.
If you want to go back and read the rest of posts from the beginning, send me (Stacey Mecham) a friend request.
We are so honored that so many people care and are following Hayley's story. It is humbling to see so many people earnestly praying for my daughter.
Hayley will be 10 months old tomorrow. It is also my brother's birthday and my mom's is the next day, Dec 5th. Its a hard time to be going through this. I was so excited for Hayley's first Christmas and I had a whole list of things that I wanted to do this month. My dear friend Silvia got Hayley a beautiful Christmas dress. Hayley smiled so big when I showed it to her. She loves it and I'm sure she wants to wear it very badly.
Christmas time is a season of hope. Its hard sometimes not to get caught up in the traditions we all love and remember the true meaning of Christmas. Its all about hope. Jesus, the light of the world, was born. He came to save us from our sins, but along the way, he healed the sick and brought back people from death. The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) all tell the Christmas story, Jesus' birth. I would encourage you to read it often this month and focus on the gift we were given in the form a little baby boy. I'm glad the my baby girl is touching your hearts this Christmas season, but focus on baby Jesus.
Well, that's a big nutshell, but there is her story. Thank you so much for following Hayley's progress and sharing your hearts with us. We cannot express how grateful we are for your prayers or how much they carry us through hard moments. Its so encouraging to read what each of you post. We wish we could respond to each of you. I was trying to "like" each comment in the beginning, but I can't keep up now. Just know that we are encouraged by each post and "like" them all. Someday, we would be honored to meet and thank each one of you personally. That might be in heaven, or maybe on earth, but for now, just know that you encourage us and we are blessed by what you are sharing. Thank you for your prayers. Keep them coming. God is listening! Love you all!
