Zach's Story

Robert and I had our beautiful son, perfect in every way from pregnancy, even through the terrible two’s.  As planned, we decided it was time to give Seth, the first perfect one, a sibling.  Just after a couple of months, we were pregnant and very excited, especially Seth. 

As usual, around the 18th week of the pregnancy, we went for our ultrasound to see what our beautiful, new baby was going to be.  Excitedly, we watched as the nurse probed my belly displaying that incredible little bundle cuddled up inside me.  As she told us that we had a little baby boy, my eyes began to water, “Seth has a baby brother.” 

However, we suddenly noticed that the nurse became quiet and nervously scanned various parts of my stomach.  She left the room without any explanation.  When she returned, she told us that we needed to go see my obstetrician.  I informed her that I did have an appointment the next week.  Shaking her head, she told us that my doctor was waiting in her office right now for us. 

Robert and I quietly made our way to my doctor’s office.  We found her in her office studying my chart.  I walked in and immediately asked, “What’s wrong?”  She immediately informed us that the left side of the baby’s heart was not developing.  Not knowing what that meant, we both just stared at her in complete confusion.  She told us that there was nothing that she could tell us right now, but they have already made an appointment for us with the Maternal-Fetal doctors.

Our appointment was that next morning, and both of us just tossed and turned in our bed, not getting any sleep that evening.  The Maternal-Fetal doctors did another ultrasound.  They spoke amongst themselves several times, until they finally turned to us and stated that Zach had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.  The left side of his heart and aorta had not developed.  This is a very rare disease, but, unfortunately, serious one. 

They stated that 10 years ago the mortality rate for this disease was 100%.  However, a pioneer in infant heart surgery, Dr. Norwood, had invented a procedure that involved a series of surgeries that could increase the chances of survival.  It was decided!  We were going to give our baby the best and allow Dr. Norwood to perform his miracle. 

We traveled to Delaware where Dr. Norwood performed his surgeries.  I gave birth to Zach on Robert’s birthday, July 23, 2002.  He was absolutely beautiful, 7.7 lbs., pink, fat, and perfect in every way.  How was it possible that this picture perfect, little baby had such a terrible, life-threatening illness?  I was allowed to hold him for a few moments.  It was so difficult because I just wanted to hold him forever, pull him inside of me and protect him from everything.  But, I knew that as soon as they took him away from me, it could be the last time that I would ever hold him. 

They rushed him to the Children’s Hospital which was 30 miles away.  Robert followed and stayed in the ICU with him.  I was required to spend the night at the hospital where I gave birth, so that they could monitor me for the evening.  It was so difficult being in the maternity ward, hearing all the babies cry, knowing that my baby was so far away.

I made it to his hospital the next day, and we spent the day holding his little hand and talking to him.  His first surgery was scheduled for the next day.  We were allowed to come in early to hold and rock him.  Finally, it was time for the surgery, and we were allowed to carry him into the surgery room.  I kissed his little forehead and told the doctor to take care of him.  After a couple of hours, the nurse came to us and told us that the surgery seemed to go well and that he was resting in ICU.  As we went to visit him in ICU, the doctor told us that Zach’s heart was extremely twisted, and he had to do a lot of modification, so they were going to keep him on the heart-lung machine.

Days passed, and he had many up and down moments, but they still could not get him off of the heart-lung machine.  After several days, we asked if it was normal for him to be on the machine for so long.  They stated that they just wanted him to rest and build up his strength.  After the weekend, they were going to take him off of the machine.  The weekend passed too slowly, and finally on Monday they attempted to take him off of the machine.  After waiting hours to see what the outcome would be, the doctor came to us and solemnly told us that there was nothing else that they could do.  It was time for us to say our goodbyes.

Those words just lingered in my head before I just collapsed onto Robert and wept uncontrollably.  We were able to spend hours with him before they took him off of the machine.  They took him off of the paralytic medicine, and he opened his eyes.  We kissed him and held his hands for those last moments. 

We came home and buried our baby.  Our family and friends were incredibly supportive and helped us significantly during this terrible time in our lives.  I spent about a year in depression not understanding why that beautiful baby could not have spent more time here with us.  But after about a year, I opened my mind, and instead of feeling hopeless and sad, I realized that God had chosen and gave us an incredible gift, if only for 8 days.  His memory would be with us until the day it was time for us to meet with him.

With this recognition, we decided that instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, we would take this gift that God had given to us and help others in their time of need. 

With the blessing of God and his little helper, Zach, we created Zachary Williamson Memorial Foundation and help to get breast pumps to families who are desperate for the much needed breast milk to help their babies grow to become healthy, beautiful babies.