Five-Year-Old

Our son was born six weeks premature, and even though he seemed healthy, we learned he had heart abnormalities. After evaluating him, the heart specialist said, “We’re going to become very close friends.” over the next five years, we did everything possible to fix his heart. There were multiple surgeries, and there would be complications. We’d make these medical choices and then we’d agonize over the suffering they caused him. Heroic efforts were made but nothing worked. When there were no viable options to save our child, my wife and I asked hospice for help. The pediatric hospice team at Hospice of Michigan helped to make this one of the best times of our son’s short life. No more invasive treatments, no more IVs. For several months, he was like any other five-year-old boy – living as happy and normal a life as his heart would allow.