Christian Writing & Reading Community discussion

I never planned on becoming an author. I was just a scared dad sitting in a hospital room watching my newborn son fight for his life after being born with congenital heart disease and having open heart surgery at only 6 days old. What made that moment even more surreal was that I was born with a heart defect myself, so 35 years after my parents stood beside my hospital bed, I suddenly found myself on the other side of it. My wife was recovering from giving birth on the other side of the hospital and I remember sitting there feeling completely helpless and alone. Somewhere during everything we went through I started putting our experience into words. My mother in law kept telling me I could write and that maybe our story could help somebody else, and eventually I listened to her. That became Jaxon’s Journey: A Story of Fear, Faith, Family, and Hope. I had also been away from church for nearly 20 years, and this journey ultimately brought me and my family back to our faith. What has happened since publishing has honestly been hard to comprehend. The book has opened conversations with families affected by CHD, podcasts, reporters, hospitals and organizations, and now even opportunities to collaborate on a much larger level. One of the most special parts of all of this is that my own cardiologist at Cincinnati Children’s, who has cared for me as an adult congenital heart patient, now helps care for my son too. As reporters continue reaching out to tell our story, he never hesitates to help explain the medical side of CHD and why these stories matter. There is something incredibly powerful about the doctor who has been part of my own heart journey now standing beside us in Jaxon’s. A portion of the royalties from the book goes back to Ronald McDonald House of Southwest Ohio because they gave our family a home when we needed one. I’m not a career author and I certainly don’t have publishing figured out. I’m just a dad who realized that sometimes the hardest chapter of your life becomes the one somebody else needs to read. To watch our story now reach families, healthcare professionals, media and organizations in ways I never imagined is something I don’t take for granted. Truly blessed is an understatement. People need people, and no matter what hospital room or difficult season you find yourself in, you are never alone.