About Beckett

Beckett Logan Goll came in to the world on July 20th, 2016. He was beautiful and deeply loved by his father, sister, and I. He was also incredibly sick. He had been diagnosed in utero with a severe left sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH.) Beckett’s stomach, intestines, liver, and spleen had all moved through a hole in his diaphragm from his abdominal cavity to his chest, leaving little room for lung development. When he was born, he was immediately intubated and placed on life support.  He required surgery less than 48 hours later to move his organs back to their correct locations, and close the diaphragm hole. Additionally, he had a heart defect; a complete atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD) that required open heart surgery to repair. We were told while I was pregnant with him that he would be “the sickest baby in the hospital.” Beckett had his CDH repair performed on July 22nd, and his open heart surgery on October 3rd. He was considered stable and improving when a catastrophic hypotension event (low blood pressure) on November 19th lead to devastating global brain damage. The medical team asked us if we would like to withdraw support and what we considered acceptable for Beckett’s quality of life. For the next two weeks, we cried, plead, prayed, and tried to seek out what was the right path forward for our son and our family. In the early hours of December 3rd, Beckett stopped breathing on his own and no ventilation system could help him. He would soon go in to cardiac arrest as the carbon dioxide in his blood overwhelmed his body. We withdrew care and held him in our arms as he passed from this world. He was four and a half months old. He was full of personality, sweet-natured, adorable, and worth every single tear I have ever shed for him. I would do it all again.

Beckett is undeniably the largest single source of inspiration for my writing. Throughout his life, I shared updates on him. Not only on what was happening with him medically, but on my little boy who I loved and desperately wanted to save. He drew a following in. People from around the world were writing me to check on him, to offer prayers and love for him. When he passed, the medical updates stopped but my journey with Beckett did not. My words for him continued and continue to flow. If you followed Beckett’s story, let me offer you my thanks. And if you loved him, let me thank you even more.

If you have more of an interest in Beckett and the journey he endured, you can read his archived updates at “Beckett Overcoming Obstacles” in his public Facebook group here.