EVERETT – Maybe no one really can imagine Kathleen Lefcourt’s emotion when her daughter stepped into the batter’s box a few weeks ago for her first T-ball game.
Michael V. Martina / The Herald
It was more than mere parental love at seeing the joy on her 3-year-old’s face playing a game she loves.
“She was swinging the little bat and tears came to my eyes,” Lefcourt said. “To be on the T-ball team, for her to run and hit and interact with normal kids, it’s a dream come true.”
To fully appreciate this wonder in what others might find ordinary, try to imagine the tiny, frail child her mother viewed through an incubator after giving birth on Sept. 30, 2001.
Born 12 weeks prematurely, Grace weighed just 1 pound, 8 ounces. A protective foam mask covered her eyes. Medical tubes and sensors were taped to her foot-long body. Her breathing was regulated by a ventilator.
Lefcourt had given birth during an emergency Caesarean section. Lefcourt’s mother had been told that her baby’s odds weren’t good.
She and her husband, Robert, held hands and prayed for their daughter. Joined by their priest, the Rev. John Whitney, they asked that Grace would have unusual strength.
Not long after she was born, Grace was given special therapy to help her immature lungs breathe, therapy developed through research supported by the March of Dimes.
“The lungs of preemies are like wet tissue paper stuck together,” her mom said. “They can’t breathe without” the therapy.
She and her husband are an ambassador family for the March of Dimes in Snohomish County, sharing their story with area groups and encouraging people to participate in the organization’s fundraising walk in Everett on May 14.
Of the 3,748 babies born at Providence Everett Medical Center last year, nearly 10 percent were premature.
Not all of Grace’s problems were caused simply by her extraordinarily early birth.
Lefcourt also had reverse flow through her umbilical cord that required constant fetal monitoring and ultimately required Grace to be born prematurely. The fetus received far less than the usual amount of nutrients, so when Grace was born, she was even smaller than most babies born at 28 weeks.
On Nov. 2, 2001, six weeks after her birth at the University of Washington Medical Center, Grace, weighed just 21/2 pounds. She was transferred to Providence Everett Medical Center. Her medical odyssey was far from over.
She developed a lung infection. Her condition worsened. On Dec. 18, what was to be have been her birth date, she was transferred to Children’s Hospital &Regional Medical Center in Seattle for treatment of respiratory failure.
The next day, Grace’s father called home about 6:30 a.m., urging his wife to come to the hospital immediately. Grace had another infection. She had a high fever. Her heartbeat was unstable.
Things looked so bleak that the baby they had dreamed of having baptized at St. John Parish in Mukilteo was instead baptized by Whitney at the hospital.
Then, miraculously, Grace rallied. Doctors who once said she might be on a respirator for three years, took out her breathing equipment just 11 days after she was hooked up to it.
In late January, she was transferred back to Providence Everett Medical Center. And on Feb. 7, 2002, 127 days after being born, Grace finally went home.
She spent a month with a feeding tube and still used supplemental oxygen administered through a nasal breathing tube.
During an evaluation when Grace was 5 months old, her parents were told she was developmentally delayed. She couldn’t roll over or move her head to the right.
As she got older she got extra help through the Little Red Schoolhouse in south Everett, which serves young children with developmental disabilities.
Again, Grace beat the odds. Only 15 percent of children served through the early intervention program are, like Grace, able to graduate from it by age 3, even though she didn’t begin walking until she was 27 months old.
“Early intervention is so critical in the process,” her mom said.
Although she’s still small and light for her age – 33 inches high and weighing just 22 pounds, about 10 pounds below typical for kids her age – she’s on par developmentally with her peers in preschool. Grace attends preschool at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Everett.
“We have always called her our amazing Grace because she has defied the odds and overcome so many obstacles,” her mother said. “Our dream of having a healthy child has been quite a journey. We’re so lucky to have the beautiful child that we have today.”
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@ heraldnet.com.
Upcoming walk
The March of Dimes walk, a 3.5-mile event, will begin at 8:30 a.m. May 14 at American Legion Memorial Park, 145 Alverson Blvd. in Everett. An estimated 500 people are expected, with a goal of at least $75,000. For information, call 800-291-3463.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
