The Children's Hospital at OU Medical Center is dear to our heart. It is where our son was born. The place we had Gavin's pre-natal care, multiple heart caths, neuro evaluations, labs, cardio appointments, a place where we experienced many emotions. We love OU Children's for so many reasons. The medical staff has always gone above and beyond to give the best care to our Gavin, even to this day! One person at OU that changed our life was Gavin's surgeon, Dr. Pastuszko. If it weren't for God, prayer and Dr. P our son would not be alive today. Dr. P is a humble man, always asking us to refer to him by his first name, giving us his personal cell to contact him. I will never forget the day I met him. I was 8 months pregnant. My mom went with me to have a consultation with him. I remember the day like it was yesterday. I had pages and pages of questions for Dr. P. He sat there with me giving me all the information I would need to "prepare" for the birth of Gavin. He even got emotional, as he had just had his first child himself. I took in as much info as possible. Trying to mentally, physically, emotionally prepare myself for what was about to happen. My mom and I headed to the parking garage, silent, not knowing what to say. I'm sure as my mother she felt helpless trying to figure out what to say and what not to say. We got in the car, I threw my head down on the steering wheel and sobbed. I bawled for what seemed like an eternity. I was about to have my first child. Like most mothers, you have no idea what to expect. You're not sure about the whole labor process and the emotions you will experience. On top of that I was dealing with the emotions of having a child with a fatal condition. After I got a good cry out of it, I decided to let go and let God. It was out of my hands, the best I could do was take care of myself and my precious son growing inside of me. I knew instantly that I wanted Gavin to be under the care of Dr. P. He made me feel at ease and he was extremely compassionate and caring during the initial process. Gavin was born less than a month later. Most of you know the story from there. If you don't visit www.gavinparker.blogspot.com to read the entire journey.
Gavin had his first two open heart surgeries at OU Children's. We learned shortly after the second surgery that Dr. P would be moving to California to pursue an amazing position at a top notch hospital. Of course we were happy for his family as they had family in that area. However, we were devastated because we knew that Gavin had a least one more big open heart surgery he needed to get through. And we wanted Dr. P to be the one to do it. So we decided we would follow him to California for the third surgery. At the time Adam didn't have the best of a job and I couldn't work because Gavin needed to stay out of day cares. Financially it was a huge burden for our family. But we had made a promise from day one that we would do whatever it took to give our son the best care possible. We ended up selling our house and moving in with my parents for a period of time. We saved up money and our church generously helped us in our time of need. We are forever grateful for their support during this difficult time. Gavin had the usual ups and downs with his third surgery. We flew back home after about a month in California. While we were there God blessed Adam and our family with a new and amazing job opportunity. The president of the company happened to live in the area we were staying and came to the hotel to interview Adam. Adam flew back and fourth to Oklahoma and we were so excited to find out that he got the job! Through every financial, emotional and physical burden God has provided so much for our family.
About a year after Gavin's third surgery he went through an extended period of tiredness. He would wear himself out so easily, taking frequent naps and getting out of breath after activity. The cardiologist had several tests ran and after another year of dealing with the situation it was decided that Gavin would need a pacemaker. We always knew this would be a possibility. He was in pre-kindergarten at the time. We made the decision to do the surgery that spring. We wanted him to have an enjoyable summer and not miss any school once he started kindergarten in the fall. So we packed up and headed back to California for the pacer surgery. Two weeks later we flew home.
This was the time that Brandon called and informed us he wanted to start a foundation to help children like Gavin. Instantly we knew how hard it was on our family to travel back and fourth. We thought to ourselves how are other people doing this? Those that don't have the support or resources to travel out of state for care. We brainstormed with the Weeden's and came up with a plan. We knew what we wanted to do with this foundation.
We celebrated the draft with the Weedens then started planning our first event. It would be a golf tournament. Brandon Weedens Swing from the Heart Golf tournament was in full swing. We ended up selling out of spots for the tournament. We received generous donations for the silent auction that would take place during the tournament. It was a huge success and planned in only a couple of months. The purpose of the tournament was to raise money for an endow chair to get a surgeon in place at the Children's Hospital in OKC. We would need to raise 1 million dollars to reach our goal. We raised over $60,000.00 at the golf tournament which was amazing for the short amount of time we had to plan it. We know with time our goal will be reached!
