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FROM FR. OAKLAND

The human heart is something I have thought a lot about over the last eight and a half years. It started with the announcement of my brother’s sixth child. The 20-week neonatal appointment required a follow up as they couldn’t see his stomach. A week later, they found it, in the wrong spot, but they also found a couple of heart problems. Each appointment came with more bad news, and some hope, and by the time of his birth he was diagnosed with five heart abnormalities. The doctor’s hope was surgery after 7 days, at one year, and 12 years old. There was a real chance, though, that surgery would have to be immediate.

The human body, our life, starts out as a single cell. 41 cell divisions later, creating 2 trillion cells in all, give or take a few, a child is born. It’s truly miraculous that most babies are born perfectly healthy. Lucas was not born perfectly healthy. I had prayed that he would be born with a perfect heart. He was born with a perfectly broken heart. His heart, with its six defects, actually worked, and was balanced. I did give God a second option - to wait seven days before surgery. The day after he was born, 50 specialists spent hours in conference all about Lucas, to come up with a treatment plan. Seven days after he was born, he left the hospital. Surgery would end up happening after his first birthday, followed in quick succession by several more, and some very tense and anxious months, with more fervent prayers.