In Memory

Justin Thompson

June 21, 2001 - June 20, 2002

My son Justin was born on June 21, 2001. My husband and I couldn't be happier. Finally we had our son. And our family was complete, with a 2 year old daughter named Taylor. Life couldn't get any better. I am a stay at home mom, and spent all my time with my children. My life was my children. Justin was always happy, always had a smile on his face. Taylor and Justin had such a special bond, the bond only a brother and sister have. And the bond I shared with him can never be replaced. My husband Wayne was so happy to finally have a boy. Someone to teach baseball, and to take fishing. But never in a million years did I think something so tragic could happen.

It was Wednesday night June 19, 2002, and my husband called me to tell me Justin was running a fever of about 103, I told him to give him tylenol, and give him a cool bath. So he did, his fever was going up and down all night. I thought he was teething, he had no other signs of anything else. Finally, Thursday June 20, 2002 at 5:00 a.m. I couldn't take him lying in his crib whimpering. I called the pediatrician on call, he said give him some motrin, and give him a cool bath. As I was undressing Justin I noticed purple spots on his leg. My husband called back the doctor and he said to take him to the emergency room right away and at 5:30 a.m. we arrived at the ER. I never drove so fast in my life. When we got the the emergency room they could see Justin was very sick and rushed him back to a room. Doctors and nurses rushed in to tend to Justin, seeing that his skin was turning purple. All of Justin's veins collapsed, it took them an hour to finally get everything hooked up. They had to use a vein in his head. At this time DuPont hospital for children was on thier way to take Justin. When they arrived they decided he was too critical to drive there, so they had to fly him.

Before they flew him they had to prepare him to fly. They inserted a breathing tube, and sedated him. I never knew at this point he wasn't going to wake up. When the helicopter arrived they told us he was getting worse and to get to DuPont right away. How can they tell you that and then expect you to drive? It was the longest drive of our lives. We arrived at 11:00 a.m. When we got there they pretty much told us that he wasn't going to make it and to be prepared. We went to see him and he looked horrible, all the tubes and the purple had spread all over his body. We never left his side. My mother and one sister were there with us also. We were told to put protective gear on and my husband and I felt no way, not for our baby. They gave Justin 2 blood transfusions and had every possible medicine being pumped into him.

For a while we were getting confident, thinking this could never happen to our family, especially one day before his first birthday. I told Justin to get better so we can have a big birthday celebration for him. Then all of the sudden at about 3:00 p.m. his blood pressure went down, they started pumping his chest, and the crash cart was being wheeled in. We couldn't take it anymore we had to walk out. The doctor came to me and said we will try a little more, but it doesn't look good. They tried to save him, but his little body couldn't take it anymore. I went into his room and they stopped everything and unhooked him. I sat down and they handed my little prince to me and I held him for a least an hour. Just sobbing wondering why in God's creation would he give us something so wonderful and then take it back. It's just not fair.

The nurses that flew with Justin came down and helped us do a molding of his hand. Then we cut a piece of his hair, and took his footprints. Wayne's brother, sister, and sister-in-law all arrived 10 minutes after he passed. And they all got to say good-bye. When I left the hospital Justin was lying peacefully on the bed with a smile on his face.

Nothing can prepare you for this. All I want is answers.

Thank You Wayne and Shawna Thompson
E-mail: Tatjet27@hotmail.com
State: New Jersey

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