My nephew, God & my mission as an uncle. Go Tigers (long)

Nov 18, 2011, 4:42 PM

Last July, my nephew who was 9 months old at the time stopped breathing in his crib. I got a call from my mom telling me to get to Spartanburg regional as fast as I could because he was unresponsive & he wasn't going to make it. As I sped down I-85 during the middle of a thunderstorm I formed a long lost connection with God. I called a great friend while nearly hitting triple digits on the speedometer & we prayed on the phone for my nephew. During that prayer I realized that I had been living life the wrong way for far too long & I needed God in my heart to live a life of happiness. But this wasn't about me, it was about my nephew Connor. When I arrived my entire family was already there in the family room. It wasn't long afterwards my brother & his wife walked in & told us the doctors ran out of options. At that moment I realized the true beauty of life. Here I was 18 years old, living a life without God as my backbone & smoking cigarettes like they were going out of style while my nephew was struggling to get air in his little lungs. As a family with too many problems to begin to list we set aside our differences & united with God in prayer for Connor. Shortly after, Connor went into Cardiac arrest, needless to say I broke down. I had prayed so much, let God enter my heart & a baby who was so happy & brought joy into the lives of so many people was on his way to heaven. It didn't make sense to me, I couldn't understand why God would do this. It wasn't two minutes later a doctor walked into the room & told us he pulled through. The doctors had no explanation for us except it was simply a miracle, but it wasn't a miracle, it was the hands of God.

The morning after his close call the doctors told us it would be 3 months before he could come home. Late that night Connor stopped breathing again. That next morning I called my friend & told him to pray. He called a person, who called a person, who called another person & the prayers kept growing. Connor pulled through again & he was still with us. Days went by & Connor progressed rapidly. Again the doctors were speechless. A week after the doctor told us it would be 3 months before Connor would be safe to leave the hospital Connor went home.

Connor is 2 years old now & stayed at my house last weekend. His mom is a Colorado Buffalo's fan & his dad is a buckeye, so I've taken it upon myself to convert this child into a Tiger for life. Last weekend when Ellington ran it in for the first score of the game I jumped out of my seat in excitement. I looked over at Connor who was laughing at his uncle for jumping up & down and thought about that rainy day last July when we almost lost him. I thought about how this boy who doesn't know how he impacted my life was so close to not seeing another day. It was just then he looked at me and screamed "GO TIGERS!!!!". When his mom & dad came to pick him up the next day he ran around the backyard yelling "GO TIGERS! GO TIGERS! GO TIGERS!"

I couldn't be more proud of my nephew for ignoring all the Buffalo, Buckeye & Gamecock fans in my family. He's a Tiger & I couldn't be happier. Life is good.

I apologize for the typos & grammatical errors.

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My nephew, God & my mission as an uncle. Go Tigers (long)

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