Photo By Jason W. Edwards | Tyler Anthony Parks-McQuinn is now 5 years old and thriving. His birth weight was 1...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas, Aug. 28, 2024 – A mother credits her faith and the support of Brooke Army Medical Center staff for the survival of her premature baby boy who was born at just over 23 weeks.
Navy veteran Jennifer Mack-McQuinn thought she was experiencing false labor pains, but it turned out to be very real.
“I was going to the bathroom and Tyler’s head was actually popping out, so I put him back in,” she said. “I somehow managed to walk to the garage where my husband was, and we got in the car and came to BAMC.”
The couple arrived at BAMC at 10:32 a.m. and Tyler Anthony Parks-McQuinn was born at 11:18 a.m. weighing just 1 pound 10 ounces. That’s when their countdown began. Tyler was in the hospital for 446 days; six months of his hospital stay was at BAMC.
“The NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) was like being on a rollercoaster with extreme ups and downs,” she said. “Rollercoaster is such an understatement, but it’s the ride and how you ride it. I spent my days trying to see the light. I have a lot of faith.”
Mack-McQuinn documented Tyler’s journey by writing in a journal every day with the hope that someday she would be able to share it with her son.
“As the days progressed, we had some really bad days where we didn’t think he was going to make it,” she said. “Then out of nowhere he would be fine.”
She said she was grateful for the milestones like being able to hold him and give him a bath for the first time.
“The first time I got to hold him, everybody in the NICU was in there,” she said. “Something in my heart told me that everything was going to be okay.”
Mack-McQuinn credits the staff, especially the experienced NICU nurses, who guided her and taught her along the way.
“That support and not believing in the bad helped to keep us going,” she said. “I think the doctors believing in what I wanted (made a difference). Sometimes you have to set aside science and look at what’s happening in front of you. They believed in Tyler even though it seemed impossible.”
During his hospital stay Tyler experienced many complications, but he was able to fight through all the challenges.
“When we were finally able to take him home it was surreal, because nobody, including myself and his dad, thought he was ever going to come home,” Mack-McQuinn said. “It was kind of chaotic because we had all this medical equipment – ventilator, suction machine, oxygen tank … supplies everywhere. As much as we tried to prepare ourselves mentally. It was definitely scary. We were used to having the hospital staff.”
Today, Tyler is 5 years old and thriving.
“He is walking, talking, eating; things we didn’t think he was going to get to do,” Mack-McQuinn said. “He’s spelling, he’s counting, he’s putting blocks together, he jumps, he runs. He’s almost typical, almost.”
Tyler has long-term cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to move and maintain balance and posture. CP is caused by abnormal brain development or damage to the developing brain that affects a person's ability to control their muscles.
Mack-McQuinn credits BAMC staff for getting them through the toughest of times.
“I could not have survived the NICU without them,” she said, with tears in her eyes. “I tell people all the time that while they were saving my son’s life, they were saving mine. The doctors are amazing human beings. The nurses are my heart, because the way they cared for my son, and not only my son, I watched them care for other babies. I have never seen so many people in one room with so much heart.”
“God forbid something happened to one of those babies while they were there,” she added. “It was like watching a whole Army, no pun intended, rush to the battlefield with full armor on and put on this amazing display of love. You could feel it. You could see it. You could hear it.”
“They are the reason that my son is alive,” she said.
| Date Taken: | 08.27.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.27.2024 15:18 |
| Story ID: | 479566 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 135 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, It’s a New Day: Tyler’s Story, by Lori Newman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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