BARBERTON, Ohio – When people say life is precious, nothing could be truer to Luke and Margaret Bradford.
For the past seven months, the couple has spent nearly every waking moment caring for the special needs of their son, Gavin, who was born with life-threatening birth defects.
“He’s my little warrior,” Margaret said. “He has overcome three separate cases of bronchitis, a case of pneumonia and an almost fatal case of RSV.”
Dawning a mustache binky, Gavin squawks out with a few cries Thursday afternoon.
“It’s lunch time,” Luke says.
Dad then spends the next several minutes placing the boy in a chair and hooking up a feeding tube to his son.
This is how the boy, who recently went through open heart surgery, eats every day.
“From the moment that you hear there is something that’s going to be wrong with your child’s heart, it’s terrifying,” Margaret said. “You wonder if he’s going to have a normal life. Can he grow up? Play football? Go to prom? Get married? Am I going to be able to see him do those things.”
“The heart is not a thing you want to hear there’s a problem with,” she continued.
Yet, Margaret says they’re lucky – far luckier than most parents in their shoes.
HEART DEFECTS IN CHILDREN
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 100 babies has a heart defect, and of those, one-fourth of those newborns have critical heart defects.
The Bradford’s son was screened before birth, due to Margaret’s history with diabetes. They knew something was wrong, and after birth, he has another text called a pulse oximetry, commonly known as pulse-ox.
“Pulse ox is life-saving. It saved our son,” Luke said.
TAKING THEIR STORY TO THE WEB
While in the hospital, Margaret documented their experience on Facebook. She created a Fan Page, Overcoming CHD with Gavin.
Almost overnight, the page had more than 1,000 Fans, though Margaret says she only knew a fraction of them. Today, their page boasts more than 4,000 active followers, including parents like Brittany Fuller of Massillon.
Brittany’s son, Jonathan was also born with a heart defect and it was detected by a pulse-ox screening. This is Brittany and her husband’s first-born.
“What gets me through it all” she asked. “Seeing him fight and grow and be so strong. I could never be like that.”
Her son, who is three months old, is very frail. At 11 pounds, even something like crying can be fatal for the boy. He needs full-time care.
“He’s amazing. He’s my miracle,” she said, holding back tears. ”If they wouldn’t have started that Pulse-sox training… he would have died in his crib.”
TWO MOTHERS PUSHING FOR CHANGE
Now, Brittany and Margaret are working together to get state hospitals to require pulse-ox testing for newborns. Only 22 states require this type of testing, though many local hospitals already do it.
The mothers say it’s inexcusable for hospitals to not use a test of this kind. It costs less than $20 per child.
Both Brittany and Margaret attended Revere High School, but even at a couple years apart, they never knew each other. When Brittany’s son was in the hospital, a friend realized both moms had treated their sons at Akron Children’s Hospital.
Their sons will likely need surgeries throughout their lives, but the two plan to support each other and other parents who are also facing a similar battle.
“There’s hope, and you can overcome it,” Margaret said. “That’s why our page is overcoming CHD with Gavin because he has overcome so much in 7 months.”
https://www.facebook.com/OvercomingChdWithGavin
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jonathans-Battle-w-CHD/506545199411127?fref=ts