Meggie and James did not have a typical journey of starting a family. With each moment of excitement, came overwhelming fear, and every triumph was met with another challenge. Through sharing our story we want to offer support to others experiencing infertility and/or the loss of a child, and help others feel less alone in an experience so isolating. In sharing Finn’s story and inspiration, we want to join with others to send all our love to families experiencing the illness of a child. Our divine love with Finn is forever and that is something we are grateful for everyday.
After years of fertility treatments and a challenging start to my pregnancy with Finn, we were so grateful and excited when we felt some smooth sailing in our pregnancy journey. Finn had already seemed to overcome so much in question about the initial success of the pregnancy, that I named him our “little fighter” in my pregnancy journal. The easy pregnancy journey didn’t last long when at about 16 weeks I experienced some bleeding in pregnancy and learned that I had placenta previa and eventually was additionally diagnosed with vasa previa. The bleeding was worrisome and we knew it could lead to an early arrival of our little guy. I was admitted to the hospital multiple times for the bleeding and during one hospital stay learned that our “little fighter” also has a congenital heart defect called tetralogy of fallot. We were somewhat familiar with this diagnosis because both my cousin and nephew have the same heart condition. I was soon admitted to the hospital for what would be the duration of my pregnancy due to more bleeding and remained in-patient at Brigham and Women’s for two months, before an emergency c-section at 34 weeks gestation.
Our “little fighter” was born July 3, 2023. He was perfect, and we named him Finn. I will never forget the sound of his voice when he first cried out.
We learned that Finn’s heart condition was a little more complicated than typical tetralogy of fallot soon after he was born. Finn had an Aortopulmonary Window and would need to have open heart surgery immediately. Because Finn was born early, and may have been affected by the previas and bleeding during pregnancy, his lungs were not as developed as a typical 34 week newborn. After Finn’s first successful surgery, the plan for him was to gain strength and grow before his next surgery. A few days after his first surgery, Finn had a cardiac arrest and required immediate surgery, and was then put on ECMO for support. Finn was having some bleeding in his brain and he needed to get off of ECMO support as soon as possible, so the surgeon reviewed options with us to help proceed with the final surgery. Finn’s final heart surgery was successful at repairing the heart, but led the surgeon to test for sepsis after noticing fluid in his chest. We held Finn for the last time the morning of July 13, 2023 as we played music and sang to him and embraced as a family of three.
We loved reading books to Finn and singing to him. Our favorite books to read to him were Feeling Grateful and To The Moon and Back (which I also read to him during my pregnancy). We also asked family and friends to record themselves reading books, so that we could play them for Finn and he could hear the voices of people that loved him so much.
Finn would open his eyes at times to let us know he was there with us when we would stand by his bed and talk to him after his surgeries. We are grateful for every moment with Finn and continue to love and honor him as the most special part of our family.
We are working to support children and their families in the hospital with “Finn Kits”, various types of creative art kits. These Finn Kits are the way we honor Finn and show how he inspires us everyday. I wrote the children’s book, “Feeling Love” to show others the power of love as he has shown us. Each book sold creates one Finn Kit to be delivered to a hospital for a child to play with and feel some respite from the stress and pain of being in the hospital receiving care. Any amount of money donated goes directly into buying supplies to build Finn Kits for children undergoing care. We currently deliver 200 Finn Kits per month to Boston Children’s Hospital, and hope to expand on that with more kits to more hospitals. Each Finn Kit costs about $8-10, so any amount will have a big impact! We appreciate your support and help in sharing Finn’s love with the world.
