There are people we meet in our lives that make a mark in your heart and you’ll be forever changed for the better because of them. Campbell and his family are some of those people. On the afternoon of Noah’s funeral, after church we stood in a receiving line to thank all the people who had come to the service to honor him. Our loving family, our wonderful friends, colleagues from work (although we consider them friends too), families that shared the NICU with us, and even families we had never even talked to… one of those families was Campbell, his parents and his brothers and sister.
Let me tell you a bit about Campbell and his family… (written by Campbell's mother Carrie)
Campbell was born at 35 weeks and
was absolutely beautiful! At 4 days old, we went for his first doctor’s visit.
To our horror he had lost 15% of his birth weight, he was later diagnosed
“Failure to Thrive”. When Campbell received his 1 year immunizations our world
turned upside down. He spiked a very high fever a few days later and lost his
milestones and smiles. Our journey was just beginning. At his 18 months old
well check the doctor saw our son and gave us a referral to the Melmed center
for being “At risk for Autism”. My world crumbled. I went home and rocked my
baby and prayed. Campbell qualified and was immediately in PT, ST, OT, and had
a developmental therapist. We did hours of therapy every week. The SLP noticed
that he swallowed wrong and a swallow study confirmed he was silently
aspirating. On August 17, 2010 he had a feeding tube placed. Later he had blood
tests, MRI, muscle biopsy, and EMG to try and figure out the cause of his
issues. All tests were negative, but changes were made - another tube for
emptying bowels, braces for legs and back, a wheelchair, a cough assist, and
O2. Even though Campbell has had more challenges in his short life he loves to
help others. His smile is infectious and his love of the Lord is great!
Standing in line at Noah's funeral, I did my best to hold myself together. When I reached out my hand to shake Carrie’s (Campbell’s mom) hand, I was instead embraced with a hug. She said, “I’m so sorry for your loss.” And in those words, her embrace, and with tears welling in our eyes, a bond had been immediately formed. We had seen Carrie, Shane and their beautiful family in church before but we had never talked. Noah changed that for us. Their family had heard about us when we asked the church to keep Noah in prayer after my water broke. Carrie later told me that they followed our daily blog posts and their entire family prayed for our precious little guy. When Noah’s body could not fight anymore and he left us, Carrie said her family all wanted to attend his service and pay him respect. Previously strangers, forever connected in a moment of kindness they gave to us.
Since that initial hug, we’ve come to know the Faulkner family better and as impressed as I was with meeting them for the first time, our admiration for them has continuously multiplied. Their family has had to walk a difficult road for their brave and strong boy Campbell. A road that frequently includes health scares, and the uncertainty of the future. But instead of letting fear and challenges keep them down, they have been a role model for us in turning difficult times into opportunities of hope, idols of trusting one’s faith, and leaders in sharing kindness. Their group Campbell's Crew (like them on Facebook) encourages others to spread love while keeping Campbell in thought and prayers.
In the months that followed Noah’s passing, the Faulkner family would share gifts with us, telling us they were continuously praying for us.
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| Carsten, Sage, Campbell, and Clayton participating in Noah's Kindness Project with us last year. |
I’ll never forget the Sunday morning in church when we shared with Carrie that we were expecting again. Her sincerity in her response, tears shared again, and I knew our friendship had grown even stronger. Throughout our pregnancy with Madelyn, they cheered us along each week, bringing cute outfits for Maddie that Campbell had picked out and diapers for milestones when we reached 24, 28, 30 and 32 weeks. They were our cheer squad celebrating with us each Sunday as another milestone in our pregnancy had been reached. It was the entire family that rejoiced, celebrated and shared kindness with us.
Serving as an inspiration for us, we have decided to partner with them to support their large activity in kindness by creating food bags for those in need. This project came together last spring as an Eagle Scout project from their son, Carsten. He led an activity to gather donated food items and then assemble them into care packages to share with the less fortunate. More than 200 bags were assembled and then handed out to families to share with homeless individuals in our community. People who took a bag, kept it in their car and when they found someone in need, they handed them out. They were kind enough to let us include a Noah's Kindness Project card last year for their project.
This fall they plan to collect items again and disperse among those in need in our communities. We invite you to join us and Campbell's Crew in helping them collect donated items.
We will be collecting donations for this cause at our home throughout the rest of September and all of October if you would like to participate.
Together with Campbell's network of support and our friends in Noah's Kindness Project, we are looking to collect:
- 600 Water Bottles
- 600 Granola Bars (no chocolate)
- 600 Peanut Butter Crackers
- 600 Apple Sauce packets
We will be collecting items through the rest of this month and all of October, at our home for this initiative,if you'd like to contribute. Every donated gift is appreciated... remember there is no act of kindness too small.
Thank you in advance for helping us give others a hand up.
Until next time,
Angie
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