1 year later, Healthy Son a Testament to the Intercession of Blessed Karl
This article by Agnieszka Ruck was originally published on April 1, 2020, by The B.C. Catholic.
The children of Sean and Daniela Gregory interact with their little brother, James, who was born one year ago with serious medical conditions and not expected to live. (Photo courtesy of Gregory family)
Last year, Sean and Daniela Gregory experienced their most difficult Lent ever.
While churchgoers around the world were fasting, going to confession, and reflecting on the Stations of the Cross, the Gregorys were in the hospital, standing over the tiny body of a baby they were told would not survive.
“They had no explanation. The only explanation they could reach was that his lungs were not viable,” said Sean, a member of Holy Family Parish in Vancouver.
He and Daniela had learned during a 20-week ultrasound that their son had a congenital diaphragmatic hernia, which meant his lungs and diaphragm were malformed. Medical staff encouraged them to stay positive, but after he was born April 5, his condition rapidly worsened.
“It was Good Friday. We had meant to go to Stations of the Cross, but we had to be there [at the hospital], and it was like a Stations of the Cross, watching him in complete agony,” said Daniela.
One day after he was born at B.C. Children’s Hospital, James could breathe in oxygen, but carbon dioxide was accumulating in his blood at toxic levels.
He went into surgery to have a patch inserted where his diaphragm was missing, but it failed to correct the problem.
Out of options, medical staff said the only thing they could do was put James on life support and hope for the best.
“They said: ‘We don’t know what’s wrong and we don’t know how to fix it,’” said Sean.
“He’s lying on this big bed, this little baby, with his arms looking like Jesus on the cross, and they are pumping the blood out of his body, and it’s incredibly difficult to see and incredibly emotional.”
Medical staff said the survival rate on life support was ordinarily 30 per cent, but because of James’ condition and recent surgery, the odds were even lower.
But the Gregorys were not alone. From the time of the ultrasound when they learned James had weak lungs and was missing part of his diaphragm, they prayed.
“Particularly we were praying for the intercession of Blessed Karl of Austria,” who had lung problems and eventually died from pneumonia, said Sean. Daniela also called family members, friends, and members of the tight-knit community at Holy Family to pray for her young son.
James Karl Benedict in hospital. (Photo courtesy of Gregory family)
And pray they did, arriving at the hospital with relics, praying novenas, and spreading the word to distant friends and cloistered Carmelite sisters in Nebraska.
“Everyone at the parish knew about James,” said Sean. “Everyone we talked to offered prayers and it ended up being that people we had never even met knew about James and were praying.”
In the hospital, Holy Family Pastor Father Daniel Geddes baptized and confirmed the baby boy everyone assumed was going to die.
“They were really absorbed in every moment they had with James,” said Father Geddes. “For me it was quite touching.”
He offered to hear their confessions and celebrated the 7 p.m. anticipatory Mass on Saturdays as a private Mass so the family could receive the sacraments without crowds and reduce the risk of exposing James to illness.
“It was a tough time for them, so we wanted to make it as easy as possible on them and still give them that spiritual nourishment.”
With Sean and Daniela spending most of their days in the hospital, friends and members of the parish mom’s group looked after their physical nourishment.
Parishioner Leah Uy was in a hospital in the Philippines caring for her dying father when she received an email about the Gregory family.
“I understood how it would feel like,” she said. “In the hospital, the days feel longer and hospital food is usually for the patient. Because the day is longer, it feels very draining. Sometimes you’re just eating for the sake of eating. If there’s someone providing something, a homecooked meal prepared with prayers and love, that would help knowing that someone is caring for you.”
As soon as Uy flew back to B.C., she did just that. She dropped off weekly meals and every evening her family Rosary included prayers for baby James.
Three days after James was placed on life support, doctors gave Sean and Daniela some difficult news.
“They told us: ‘We’ve gone over everything and we’ve come to the conclusion that we don’t think his lungs are as good as we thought they were initially. We don’t think his lungs can support him. There’s nothing we can do to give him better lungs, so we’re going to take him off life support and you can hold him as he dies. That’s all there is left,’” said Sean, recounting the moment.
They brought their children, Luna and Ambrose, to say goodbye. Father Geddes arrived to discuss funeral arrangements, and counsellors and support staff offered resources for grieving the loss of a newborn and a brother.
As doctors expected, James’ CO2 level started to climb after life support was removed, said Daniela.
Then, suddenly, “it stopped rising. And it plateaued. And it started coming down. They had no idea why.”
The boy would stay in medical care for many more tests, surgery, and breathing assistance through ventilators, but after 134 days of living in the hospital, James Karl Benedict was well enough to go home. The family says it’s a miracle.
“It didn’t happen in the way we were expecting, and God made us wait until the last moment,” said Sean, but “God had other plans for him.”
Sean finds it “equally miraculous,” that doctors now consider James “exactly where he should be for his age.”
After all James had been through -- dangerously high CO2, medications, chemicals, diruretics, and hormones, ventilation, and four months confinement to his bed, he had “every reason to be cognitively delayed and physically delayed,” said Sean.
A family friend jokes that James is so independent and joyful, it’s like he doesn’t realize he isn’t supposed to be healthy.
“He didn’t get the memo,” said Sean. “When he was learning to crawl, you could see him working so hard and out of breath and breathing and panting and it wouldn’t get in his way. We would have to pick him up and tell him to take a break.”
The family’s strength has inspired the community in return.
“It is very admiring to have witnessed Sean and Daniela’s abandonment to God’s will and humility to ask for help and accepting them with open arms,” said Uy.
“It’s true that it is not only the receiver but also the giver is blessed with something beyond what can be seen.”