Harper's Super Bowl

I am "guest blogging" today. My friend Aaron Cunningham and his wife Tonya were featured in a blog I wrote a few months ago when their beautiful daughter, Harper, was born with heart defects and Down's syndrome. Since that time, she has valiantly endured cataract surgeries, and this stint in the hospital, with another coming up to repair her heart. Her parents are amazing, and she is a warrior princess.  Her Daddy Aaron just wrote this. Read and share widely.


Harper has had a few breathing trials since she has been in the hospital, which have not gone very well at all. Basically they turn off the intubation machine so that she is forced to take breaths on her own. They start by giving her a little higher oxygen concentration than what is normally in the air and give a little extra pressure to help push it into her lungs and if she is doing alright, they start to turn down the concentration and the pressure until they reach the same levels as in the normal atmosphere.
As Tonya and I stood at the foot of Harper’s bed at 10:30 tonight for the second attempt of the day (the first only lasting 5 minutes before her stats dropped), I was hoping she would do well, but I can honestly say I wasn’t holding my breath. As the clock started and she began to breathe on her own, we watched as her stats fluctuated and I found myself wondering if she would even really get fully started. I closed my eyes and began to pray that God would comfort her and give her the strength to do at least a little better this time. When I finished praying, which may have been 2 minutes, I was worried to even look up at the screen. Worried maybe that my prayers weren’t strong enough? Or maybe that this was just too tall of an order to be asking right now because of her condition? Writing this now, I feel ashamed that I would have even had any doubts that my prayers couldn’t or wouldn’t be answered.
When I looked at the screens, Harper was doing exactly what she needed to. Her breaths weren’t too fast or too slow. Her oxygen levels stayed in the necessary range. Her heart rate was also within range. She was breathing on her own with very little assistance. We stood and watched as the minutes went by and the respiratory specialist decreased the amount of assistance. Each time, I watched her stats to see if she would be able to handle the increased amount of work for her. I would silently cheer for her and encourage her. It felt like I was watching the most important Super Bowl of all time. If she began to fall down, my eyes would close and I would pray for more strength for her. But when I opened my eyes, I knew that she would be doing better. It felt like my team had just made a huge play on the final drive of the game.
After about 20 minutes (which was her new record), she was breathing normal air at normal pressure completely on her own. I was cheering so hard for her inside, but she was still only halfway down the field. When the machine would beep warning that some stat was almost out of range, I would close my eyes again. There was no doubt in my mind that she was going to get to their 45-minute goal for her. Some of her stats were even improving. Her heart rate slowly came down, her oxygen levels would get well above her necessary range. The 40-yard line. I was going wild for her. The 30. There was no way she was going to stop now. The 20. She needed another prayer and kept going. The 10. My heart was aching to see her reach her goal. It was the only thing that mattered to me in that instant. Touchdown! She made it! We made it! We won the most important game of all time! It’s the only way I can describe the amount of joy and excitement and pride I had for her when she met that goal. It was perfect! As the respiratory specialist turned the breathing machine back on, I watched as Harper relaxed and let the machine take back over for her. She felt like she had just ran a marathon. She completely stopped breathing on her own again. It was as if nothing had changed for her from 45 minutes before that.
And as I looked at her I realized we hadn’t just won the most important Super Bowl of all time. Not even close. We had just made the very first completion of the game. We were still so far from the end of the game. Now, some people might think that would make me sad to think about, but the exact opposite is true. If that was just a small example of the amount of joy and excitement and pride that Harper will bring us as she reaches goals and milestones in her life, I can’t wait to see what God has in store for this little brave warrior princess of ours.
"God, the LORD, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth." Isaiah 42:5