Remembering Henry

Little Henry Augustin Dobrovits passed away yesterday afternoon.Henry was the two-year-old son of Paul and Carla Dobrovits, who adopted him from Ukraine last year. You can read a summary of their amazing story -- and the impact it has had -- here.

 Very early in the process of adopting Alex, we called up Carla to get the scoop on what we might expect. Carla and Paul had just returned from Ukraine within the past few months, and Henry was in the same baby house as Alex (before Alex was transferred), so it made sense to talk to Carla. She spent an hour or two answering all our stupid questions and offering every piece of advice she could think of...in between dealing with her seven kids, including Henry (who we got to hear in the background!). Carla was so full of energy, and so enthusiastic and on fire with her faith...we hung up the phone much better informed, and inspired by her example and can-do spirit.

That spirit has been tested in recent weeks, as you can read on her blog, Bringing Henry Home. Her family adopted Henry knowing that he had a life-threatening condition that would have killed him had it been left untreated...as I understand it, his spine was growing in such a way that it would eventually have prevented him from breathing. In the past few weeks, Carla left her family and traveled to Pennsylvania with Henry for him to have surgery to correct that condition. It sounds like it was a quite an ordeal, but they implanted some rods in his back that were supposed to correct the growth. When they came home on Nov. 15, Henry was very happy to be home.

A few days later, he developed a fever from an infection related to the surgery. Just an infection, right?

So yesterday I am checking e-mail and Facebook correspondence after a day spent down with the stomach flu, and while I am on Facebook, Carla posts that Henry's vent "crashed." Of course, people respond immediately with promises to pray. About half an hour later, Carla posts again that the medical team managed to bring him back after losing his pulse for two minutes. She is relieved, and so are we.

And ten minutes later, she posts that his vent crashed again. And then we don't hear anything more until later in the day. "Henry is finally home," she posted on her blog. "His ultimate home. The home where it was my job, as his mommy, to deliver him."

In the midst of the worst nightmare any parent can imagine, Carla and her family continue to live in a way that points to the ultimate source of all that is good and light. Once again, they are an inspiration to us.

Please pray for them as they celebrate his life at his funeral Mass on Saturday at 10 a.m. (Chicago time). Please pray for them in the weeks ahead. Pray in thanksgiving for the gift they were to him, and vice versa, during the year they had together.

If you feel so moved, you may also wish to make a donation to the family to defray their medical and funeral expenses. You can do so via the Chip-In widget below, or directly to their Paypal account at Dobspc@aol.com. Or e-mail us and we will send you their address.