A Pastoral Word. . .
Pastor Mark Adams
March 11, 2021
This is LynLee and she was born twice.
Here’s how it happened.
Her mom, Margaret Boemer went for a routine ultrasound 16 weeks into her pregnancy and she quickly found out that things were far from routine.
Margaret shares, “The doctor came in and told us that there was something seriously wrong with our baby---that she had a sacrococcygeal teratoma (tumor). It was very shocking and scary, because we didn’t know what that long word meant or what diagnosis that would bring.”
A sacrococcygeal teratoma is a tumor that grows from the baby’s tailbone before birth. This kind of tumor feeds on blood flow from the baby, competing with the baby as they both are trying to grow. Many times the tumor wins and the heart just can’t keep up. They baby dies.
This is exactly what was happening to LynLee. At 23 weeks, the tumor was shutting down her heart.
Although other doctors had advised her to terminate the pregnancy, she learned of another possibility: fetal surgery. This option, though, would not be an easy road. Margaret said, “LynLee didn't have much of a chance. It was a choice of allowing the tumor to take over her body or giving her a chance at life. It was an easy decision for us: We wanted to give her life.”
So, when Margaret was 23 weeks and 5 days pregnant, Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye (pictured with LynLee above) and his team removed LynLee from the womb and performed the emergency fetal surgery. By this time, the tumor was larger than the little girl.
The surgeons operated for about five hours removing the bulk of the tumor. Then they placed LynLee back inside the womb. Boemer was on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy. Despite her pain, she marshaled her strength and made it another 12 weeks to nearly 36 weeks--full term--when LynLee Hope was born for the second time via C-section.
Boemer said, “It was very difficult.” But seeing her toddler smiling with her sisters, she added: “It was worth every pain.” A year after LynLee’s “rebirth,” Boemer said, “We’re amazed at how well she is doing. We know that God has great plans for her in the future to do something big.”
This amazing story is a reminder of something even more amazing.
All people face a diagnosis even more serious than LynLee’s. We all have---not a tumor---but a terminal illness called sin. The only treatment is rebirth. As Jesus said, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
The good news is anyone can be reborn, without reentering his or her mother’s womb like LynLee. This second birth happens when an individual puts his or her faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord for, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”
SHARE THE CURE!
Keep the SON in your eyes!
Mark
Here’s how it happened.
Her mom, Margaret Boemer went for a routine ultrasound 16 weeks into her pregnancy and she quickly found out that things were far from routine.
Margaret shares, “The doctor came in and told us that there was something seriously wrong with our baby---that she had a sacrococcygeal teratoma (tumor). It was very shocking and scary, because we didn’t know what that long word meant or what diagnosis that would bring.”
A sacrococcygeal teratoma is a tumor that grows from the baby’s tailbone before birth. This kind of tumor feeds on blood flow from the baby, competing with the baby as they both are trying to grow. Many times the tumor wins and the heart just can’t keep up. They baby dies.
This is exactly what was happening to LynLee. At 23 weeks, the tumor was shutting down her heart.
Although other doctors had advised her to terminate the pregnancy, she learned of another possibility: fetal surgery. This option, though, would not be an easy road. Margaret said, “LynLee didn't have much of a chance. It was a choice of allowing the tumor to take over her body or giving her a chance at life. It was an easy decision for us: We wanted to give her life.”
So, when Margaret was 23 weeks and 5 days pregnant, Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye (pictured with LynLee above) and his team removed LynLee from the womb and performed the emergency fetal surgery. By this time, the tumor was larger than the little girl.
The surgeons operated for about five hours removing the bulk of the tumor. Then they placed LynLee back inside the womb. Boemer was on bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy. Despite her pain, she marshaled her strength and made it another 12 weeks to nearly 36 weeks--full term--when LynLee Hope was born for the second time via C-section.
Boemer said, “It was very difficult.” But seeing her toddler smiling with her sisters, she added: “It was worth every pain.” A year after LynLee’s “rebirth,” Boemer said, “We’re amazed at how well she is doing. We know that God has great plans for her in the future to do something big.”
This amazing story is a reminder of something even more amazing.
All people face a diagnosis even more serious than LynLee’s. We all have---not a tumor---but a terminal illness called sin. The only treatment is rebirth. As Jesus said, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
The good news is anyone can be reborn, without reentering his or her mother’s womb like LynLee. This second birth happens when an individual puts his or her faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord for, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”
SHARE THE CURE!
Keep the SON in your eyes!
Mark
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