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Benefit dinner, silent auction slated to help employee’s grandsons born 13 weeks early |
| By
Vicki L. Kroll |
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Oct 30, 2007 |
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Shelly Cassidy woke up when the phone rang April 22.
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| Regan, left, and Jayden Cassidy, 2 months old |
“I fully expected a call from my daughter-in-law either saying my son was in the emergency room with a kidney stone or their dog was in labor with puppies,” recalled the public inquiries assistant in the Student Union. “I got a call from Steve, frantic, worried, about 10 that night to come to the hospital, that Laura was in labor and probably would lose the babies.”
After an emergency Caesarean section, Jayden and Regan Cassidy arrived — three months and one week before they were due.
“Both babies went to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) immediately and were on life support,” Shelly said. “A lot of it was normal for such premature babies; younger ones have survived and smaller ones have survived, too.”
Jayden weighed two pounds and four ounces and was 13.5 inches long; Regan was two pounds and six ounces and 14 inches long.
Laura had twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, a rare condition where identical twins share the same placenta. The result is an unbalanced supply of blood, oxygen and fluids.
“Basically, the recipient twin will take the resources from the donor twin, and one could die from loss, depletion, and the other could die from overload — the heart and circulatory system will be overloaded,” Shelly said. “It’s possible Laura being forced into labor saved their lives.”
Jayden and Regan both had heart surgery and remained in NICU. They had difficulty breathing due to their underdeveloped respiratory systems and were on oxygen and ventilators.
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| Shelly Cassidy and her grandson, Jayden |
“Because they were so tiny and fragile, we could only touch them on a good day, lay a hand on their heads, because stroking was painful to them,” Shelly said.
Regan’s health worsened. He developed inflammation in the sac around his heart. He underwent major stomach surgery to prevent his food from backing up and will have a feeding tube for about one year. After several attempts to remove his oxygen, Regan stopped breathing. An emergency tracheotomy saved him.
“The doctors tried to intubate, but they found his airway had shut down 99 percent so he couldn’t breathe,” Shelly explained. “Next spring when Regan is old enough and big enough, he will go to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for surgery. The surgeon will take cartilage from his body and form an airway for him, and he should recover.
“It was some very scary times with that, but he’s stable,” she said. “Regan has the trach but doesn’t require oxygen anymore. He does have his feeding tube and gets supplements at night, but he does take a bottle several times a day. He does pretty much what every baby does.
“The doctors are saying that his vocal chords are paralyzed from numerous intubations; they don’t think he’ll speak again. We’re praying. There’ve been so many miracles. We’re hoping after the surgery he’ll be able to speak. He’s defied the odds a million times.”
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| Steve and Laura Cassidy and their twin boys, Jayden, left, and Regan |
Jayden has other complications.
“His biggest problem: He’s profoundly hearing impaired,” Shelly said. “It’s not caused by prematurity, but an antibiotic that they give almost all preemies and 99.9 percent are fine, but it can cause hearing loss in others. Jayden’s being fitted for hearing aids and we’ll see how that goes.
“But he’s growing and being a baby — he’ll roll over soon, I just know he will,” the first-time grandmother gushed.
Jayden spent two months in the hospital before coming home to Oregon, Ohio, and Regan came home on life support one day before their actual due date, which was July 23. They weighed four pounds when they came home; Jayden now is 14 pounds, Regan 12 pounds.
It helps that their mom is a nurse, and that Steve, who attended UT from 1998 to 2002, learned from hands-on involvement in NICU, Shelly said.
“The only way they sent Regan home was because they were so well-trained. The nursery was basically a hospital room with so much equipment and monitors. It was intimidating, but it’s eased up, there’s less equipment. A nurse comes in for the midnight shift to watch over Regan and the trach so they can get some sleep.”
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| Regan, left, and Jayden Cassidy, 5 months old |
The young couple has handled everything as well as could be expected.
“They’re 26 years old. The life-threatening decisions they’ve had to make are unbelievable,” Shelly said. “But with God’s grace, you do what you have to do. We’re so proud of them.”
Family and friends of Laura and Steve will hold the Jayden and Regan Cassidy Benefit Saturday, Nov. 3, from 4 to 9 p.m. at the First Alliance Church Fellowship Hall, 2201 Monroe St. Suggested donation for the spaghetti dinner is $10 for adults and $4 for children 4 to 12. There also will be a silent auction. All proceeds will go to the family to help with medical expenses.
Those who wish to make a donation may make checks payable to the Regan and Jayden Cassidy Benefit Fund and drop them off in Student Union Room 2525 on Main Campus, mail stop 114, or call Shelly at 419.530.5202 to pick them up. Deposits to the fund also can be made at Fifth Third Bank.
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