Five days later, Borge sits next to me in my office and is crying! I said, “What is wrong with you?!”. He said “I don’t know, I just keep thinking about this baby.” Then he said, “We haven’t even met him yet.” Then the phone rang and it was the adoption counselor with Catholic Charities calling in that very moment. She said, “[My nurse] tells me you may be interested in this baby.” To which we replied, “Well we have not even met him yet.” Within two hours we were at Shands Hospital meeting him. It was honestly the worst day to probably meet a baby. He had tubes and wires coming from everywhere and because he had started vomiting a third of his bottle feedings and they did not want him to lose weight before a transplant, they were placing a NJ tube while we were visiting him. He was screaming, it was heartbreaking. When we finally left and were standing in the elevator, I thought for sure my husband was done and scared off by all of the medical stuff. I said “So?” and took a deep breath, bracing for impact. He simply smiled and said “Well, if we’re not called for this, then what are we called for.” We were in, we were all in. This baby would be ours. We rushed through the paperwork for the home study, paid for three bus tickets for birth mom to come meet us and terminate parental rights which she did on May 23, 2021, and then a judge signed the adoptive placement order. We started visiting him 5-9 hours a day combined between myself and my husband and two adult sons. Within 2 ½ weeks, Samuel matched for a heart again, but this time he had a family. This time he had his heart. June 14, 2021, Samuel received a heart transplant. We brought him home July 27, 2021, and on December 21, 2021, he was officially ours. I would love to tell you more about all the miracles and God moments and healings that have occurred and keep occurring, but I would be writing many more pages. I want to encourage you to consider for a moment that selfless love returns to you 100-fold, and to consider your opportunity to love a baby that others would choose to terminate. Your life will be truly blessed and full because of them. Shawn M Zierke | MBA, MPH-Policy, SHRM-CP
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