William Blake Burns

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Happy Birthday Will!

It's hard to believe that 2 years has passed since you came into our lives. Sometimes it feels like yesterday, and other days it feels like eternity.
We miss you, love you and look forward to the day we can hold you in our arms again.

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

U of M Survival Flight Plane Crash

I just heard that there was a plane crash in Michigan that involved a survival flight crew that was on their way to the hospital with organs for donation. One of the victims included a beloved doctor who we knew during our stay at Michigan. His name was Dr. David Ashburn and he had a very distinctive southern accent that made Josh & I feel very at home with him. We dealt with him primarily during our 1st visit when he would assist with chest closures, etc. I just thought I would share with you this news so that you may join us in praying for the University of Michigan staff as well as the friends and family members of the victims.

Below is an excerpt from Michigan's website:

"U-M is mourning six members of a U-M Survival Flight crew whose plane crashed in Lake Michigan late Monday afternoon. The U.S. Coast Guard this morning (June 5) declared that all on board were lost. The team was heading back to the Willow Run Airport, carrying organs for transplant.

“Our hearts are broken by this devastating and irreplaceable loss for the University of Michigan community,” said President Mary Sue Coleman during an 11:30 press conference today. “Every day, the doctors, nurses and flight personnel of Survival Flight perform heroic work to save the lives of others, and that is how we will remember those who perished in this tragedy—as selfless heroes.

“There is no greater act than that of saving a life, and through our grief, we take comfort in knowing these six men died in the service of a fellow human being.”
Aboard the aircraft were:
Dr. David Ashburn, a fellow (physician-in-training) in cardiothoracic surgery
Richard Chenault II, a donation specialist with the U-M Transplant Program
Dennis Hoyes, a Marlin Air pilot
Rick Lapensee, a donation specialist with the U-M Transplant Program
Bill Serra, a Marlin Air pilot
Dr. Martinus (Martin) Spoor, a cardiac surgeon who had been on the faculty since 2003

Dr. Robert Kelch, executive vice president of medical affairs, said the U-M Health System and greater campus community are in mourning for the victims and their families.
“We are thousands of people who come together every day, saying to our patients: ‘We can treat your illness,’ ‘we will help you recover,’ ‘we will work to return you to the life you knew.’
“We are a place of strength and optimism, of determination and knowledge. The people who work here are people who believe—sometimes, against all odds—that they can help make a difference in a patient’s life. So it is particularly difficult when a place of hope, loses hope. But that is what happened this morning when we learned that our crew was not coming home to us.
“Despite valiant, tireless efforts on the part of the U.S. Coast Guard and many other emergency and rescue agencies—for which we are extraordinarily grateful—we now know that our team is lost.”
Soon after takeoff from General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee the pilot sent an emergency signal indicating he wanted to turn the Cessna jetaround. Within moments air traffic controllers report the plane disappeared from radar."

Thanks,

Stephanie

Monday, March 05, 2007

Some Cell Phone Pics Never Shown Before

Here are some pictures from Josh's cell phone. We can't believe the quality of these. Still working on getting the cell phone videos uploaded. We thank all for the support and prayers received. We truly feel blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.


Thanksgiving Bib from Nanna Nancy

Our Sweet Little Angel

Our Little Fighter

Grandma Kirk Holding Will for the 1st Time

We Loved Every Chance We Got to Hold Our Sweet Will

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

1 Year Later

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted on the blog... even harder to believe that the dreaded "anniversary" of Will's passing is here.

I would love it if everyone could add themselves to the buddy map below to show how many people have been touched by baby Will. I've seen these maps on other carepages, and it's really quite how amazing to see how many people are praying for you.





Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Happy Birthday Will

Well, here we are... a year ago my precious baby boy was born. I can remember that day in vivid detail. His birth was so unexpected for me... it was a whirlwind!

As expected, today is a sad day for us. As I drove to work this morning, I couldn't help but wonder, what would we be doing for Will's birthday if he were still here? What kind of cake would I make for him? What kind of theme would the party have? Then I snapped out of it, because this kind of thought is extremely painful. I try not to do this to myself, but sometimes I can't help it.





This was displayed at our church on Sunday in honor of Will's birthday. It was made by David Friedli, our associate pastor.



These flowers were arranged by Kirk, Josh's mother. She and Will have a special bond as they share a birthday today.





FOR WILL....

This angel touched your hearts
For only just a while
To teach you what it means to love
And show you how to smile

He could not stay for long
Because soon God would call him home
But he left behind these memories
To carry with you when you roam

He taught you through his courage
And the strength it took to live
And to see his eyes and smile
Oh, what you wouldn't give

Now your tears of sorrow fall
But through each tear there is a light
For this end is not goodbye
Its only time until you'll unite

For one day the skies will open
And God's hands, they will unfold
And your precious baby will await
For your arms to hold

So till then, hold on
Keep his legend in your hearts
And know the journey isn't done
It's only just the start...

Monday, July 31, 2006

Sweet Dreams

I had the most wonderful dream that I have to share with everyone.

It happened early Sunday morning. I haven't dreamed about Will at all since he passed away.

In the dream I was back at Vanderbilt's critical care unit. I went into his room and picked up him out of the crib and sat down in the rocker as I used to. As I rocked him I started to look around the room wanting to know what his vitals were. As I looked at his ventilator, I couldn't see the screen because it was turned the other way. So I called for Will's nurse, and I asked her, "What is the ventilator setting at today?" And she replied, "Well, he isn't on the ventilator anymore... he is breathing on his own, don't you see?"

I looked down at Will in my arms. I started crying uncontrollably in my dream as I noticed he had no trach, no IV's, no feeding tube, no shaven head... he was perfect, healthy, and happy. He had the biggest smile on his face, almost laughing.

I know that Will was speaking to me in my dream... Mommy, I'm happy & healthy. Don't worry about me. I'm fine.

My only wish is that Josh (and everyone else for that matter) could have experienced this same dream. It is the most wonderful dream that I have ever had.

Sunday, July 16, 2006



I put together this photo montage for baby Will. Included are some never before shared pictures that we took while we were in Michigan last fall. At the time, all we had was our camcorder, so those pictures aren't as good of quality. I hope you enjoy!!

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Angel Tribute Video



Get out the kleenex! This is a dedication video for heart angels, and it includes Will. We know quite a few of the babies and their families in the video. Very touching!

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

New Pics



This is our last family portrait taken by Arlene just days before Will passed away.




Dr. Bove (Will's heart surgeon) and one of Will's roommates, Jeremiah Pearson. We are so thankful that we had the opportunity to get to know him and his parents, Arlene and Judd.

Arlene sent me these pictures in the mail and I thought I would share them with you. Seeing the picture of the three of us brought a lot of memories back of Will's final days. This picture to me really captures how sick Will was... poor little guy. He was so miserable. Seeing this picture comforts me in that letting Will go was the right thing to do, no matter how painful. It wasn't fair to him. He deserved better.

Josh and I are doing ok. I just got offered a position with a property management company for an apartment community in the West End area of Nashville. I will be a leasing associate. I'm looking forward to getting back in the workforce. We're also going to be moving in with Josh's parents next month because our rent is getting ridiculously high and we are looking to build a house... probably in the Hendersonville area. So, that's very excited to us. Our first home!

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Will's Home Video



This video was taken on February 8th, the day before Will's final open heart surgery, the Rastelli Procedure. It's the only home video we have of him. I'm excited that I have finally found a way to share it with everyone. It was taken on our digital camera. Enjoy!!

You need Macromedia Flashplayer 8 to see the video. If you don't have it, you can download it for free at this website: www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/

Hearts United Video



I found this very touching movie on a carepage for the Husted family. I hope you enjoy it.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Nurses Day

I don't know if any of you know, but tomorrow is National Nurses Day. I decided I wanted to do something for all of the nurses that helped us throughout our hospital stay with baby Will. So, tomorrow I am going to visit the nurses at Vandy's PCCU and bring them some treats and treat them to a little pampering. Mary Kay makes a product called Satin Hands that's great for anyone who uses their hands. I look forward to seeing them again.

I also want to let you know that baby Wyatt (Will's heart buddy from Michigan) is sick with RSV, a very serious respiratory infection. He will be in the hospital until he recovers, and we're not sure how long that will be. Luckily, his heart is fine and his chest x-rays look good. Pray for a speedy recovery.

I also want to inform you about the Wilbanks family in Michigan (we've never met). They are struggling right now. They have a baby boy, Griffin, who was born the last week of April. He had open heart surgery shortly after his birth, and unfortunately he had to be put on ECMO, a means of life support, right after surgery. After an attempt to remove baby Griffin from ECMO, doctors realized the only way to save him would be a heart transplant. This could take weeks or months, and he and his family have a very tough road ahead.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Will's Headstone



Will's headstone was installed this week. Many of you have been asking about it, so I thought I would share a picture of it since many of you live out of town and can't see it. I thought that it turned out very well.


Josh and I are doing ok. We're going to Memphis this weekend to celebrate my 25th birthday. I feel much older than 25... this whole experience has aged me quite a bit.


Monday, April 17, 2006

A Flower For Will



Angela Hayward made this flower in loving memory of Will and Derrion Johnson, another heart baby in Michigan who died about a week before Will. Angela's daughter, Eliya, was in the PCTU with Will last fall and we shared a room with her and baby Jorianna. Eliya passed away just after Christmas. This flower is next to baby Eliya's grave.



Josh and I are doing ok. We had a nice Easter weekend. After church yesterday, we visited Will's gravesite. It was Josh's first time since his burial. It was tough for him, but he is ok. We miss Will deeply. There isn't a moment that passes by when I don't think of him. He is constantly in my thoughts.

Monday, April 03, 2006

TV Program on HLHS

Hello everyone.

Just want to let you know of a television program that will be on ABC tonight that will follow a family with a child that has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). The title of the show is "Miracle Workers," and it comes on at 9 p.m. (central time).

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Pictures




Proud Aunt Annie holding Will


I thought I would share these pictures of my sister, Leigh-Ann, holding Will. We actually took these with her cell phone. Not so bad for a camera phone, huh? I meant to upload these sooner, but I haven't gotten around to it. This was the only time she was able to hold him, and we had forgotten our cameras! Thank goodness for cell phones!

Josh and I are doing as well as expected I guess. We still have these moments when we look at each other, and our eyes start to well up with tears. Some days, I can talk about Will and talk about him, and it puts me in such a good mood. But other times, I can hardly say his name without having a complete meltdown. That's when it seems like my tears never stop... it's like a water faucet, and I can't seem to shut it off.

We spent most of the weekend in Knoxville with my sister and her boyfriend, Brandon. I felt kinda bad that in the 2 years she has been there, I hadn't made a trip up to visit her. But, we've been just a little busy.

Josh did pretty well with his first week back at work. I have been keeping myself busy. I even had a job interview with WebMD last Thursday for a marketing position... it seems right up my alley! I hope to hear from them early this week. I'll let you know what happens!

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Letter from Dr. Bove

Josh & I are back in Nashville. We arrived here late last night. We wanted to be back for church this morning. It felt good to get out and go to church this morning with Hunter and Sarah.

When we arrived home last night, we were greeted with a large stack of mail. The first letter I noticed was from the University of Michigan Congenital Heart Center. I wondered what this could be. It was a letter from Dr. Bove, Will's heart surgeon. We never got a chance to speak with him after Will's death, since it occured over the weekend when he was not in. His letter was very comforting to us. Here it is:

Dear Josh and Stephanie:

Please accept my sincerest condolences over the death of your son, Will. As you know, Will had a very serious heart defect further complicated by a number of other abnormalities. When Will returned to our institution in early February, we felt that an attempt to repair his heart using all four chambers was his best chance and, in fact, this seemed to be successful. Most unfortunately, the gravity of the other issues including infection, kidney dysfunction, and neurological issues, eventually took their toll. I hope that you were comfortable knowing that all the best decisions were made for Will and I hope that you can achieve some closure in that knowledge.

Again, please accept my sincerest condolences and those of my entire staff.

Sincerely,

Edward Bove, M.D.


Josh is returning to work tomorrow, while I figure out where to go from here.

As for our future family, Josh and I will probably look into genetics counseling before trying again. The genetics team at Vanderbilt did a series of tests on Will, but they all turned out to be normal. His abnormalities were more than likely a fluke thing that will never happen again. We're not sure at this point when we will try to have children again, but we will know when the time is right. We look forward to the day when we become parents again.

Having Will made me realize that one of the main reasons why I am here on earth is to be a mother. It is the most wonderful gift that I could ever have. I am so thankful that God chose Josh & I to be the parents of Will. We are so blessed to have been given the opportunity to know and love him.


Thursday, March 16, 2006

Will's Eulogy

I have really missed doing my daily updates on the blog. I was thinking about it just now when I decided to post an update.

Josh and I are doing ok. We have enjoyed our time together in Heber Springs, Arkansas, where we have taken a much needed break this week. It has been nice, but when we resume our life as we know it next week, it will be tough. All we can do is take it one day at at time, one hour at a time.

The hardest part about my grief for losing Will is when I forget that he is gone. I have caught myself doing this a couple of times, but I am sure it will pass. For example, when our power went out last week, the first thing I thought about was... oh no! Will's ventilator! But then, I remember, he isn't here. Maternal instinct is a very powerful thing. You can't just shut it off.

But, I am still amazed at the affect Will has had upon others. For this I am very thankful.

Anyway, I thought I would share the wonderful eulogy that our pastor, Dale Robble, did for Will's memorial service.




147 Days. It sounds so short. And it leads to the profound mystery of life…and to the most asked question in life…Why?

Over the years I've probably asked myself thousands of times “Why?” Why does God allows things like this to happen — and I still don't know the full answer.

The Bible speaks of "the mystery of iniquity"— In Second Thessalonians 2:7.
and that is what evil and death is: a mystery. But what I do know is this: No matter what happens to us, God still loves us and He still cares for us.

He knows your pain and heartache. He knows the grief we are going through.

Jesus' promise for you is: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" (Matthew 5:4).

We may not always understand why things happen—but God does,

And we can turn to Him for the comfort we need.
Take comfort in the fact that Will is now whole.
His heart is full of love and happiness.

He has no more scars and tubes…
He has seen his last physician…
Because he had an appointment…
With the great physician.

And as we speak, Will is playing safely in heaven

Beyond the pain and sorrows
of this room and this world.

And take comfort also in the fact that some day you can see Will again in heaven.
-------------------
In heaven there is "no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Revelation 21:4).

Thank God for the hope we have in Christ!

In cases such as this, we have a choice to make.

All of us survivors have a choice.

A choice, to either view Little Will from the vantage point of entitlement,
and that is to say, “He was mine. I had a right to him. He was my child,
and therefore his death is tantamount to theft,” or to look on Will from the vantage point of grace and gift … That is that fact that: He was never really ours, really, -- not for a single moment longer than we could claim was our “right.”

We have a choice between which perspectives we would put around his 147 days with us
and as a part of your and our history.
My prayer is, our prayer is, that you chose to regard his life as a gift.

I chose to regard him as a little boy that I never deserved to know. As someone
whose very presence in my existence was utterly beyond anything I could have created.

That does not take the sadness out of it. It does not in any way diminish the grief,
but it keeps me from being angry and resentful at God … or at the doctors
and I would say to you that you, too, have the same choice –

You can either regard the people you have loved and lost…as your rightful possession and therefore their death as a kind of stealing of what rightfully belongs to you;

or … you can stop asking, “Why did he die?”

and step back and ask a greater question, “Why did he live?”

When you ask that question, you’re getting back to that mystery of grace that any of us exists for a single day and the kind of gratitude that you feel in the presence of something
that you know is a gift is something very different from what you feel when something that is rightfully yours has been stolen.

So “Why did Will live?”

You know, God could have just made sure he was never conceived.

But Will had a purpose. “Why did Will live?”

I don’t know both families real well. I don’t know everyone here. But I suspect Will lived so this family would come together, intertwined together in love as every family should be.

I think Will lived for so Josh and Stephanie would experience real love. Will lived so the Burns, Cox, Smith, Perdue families would come together.

I think he lived so we would all turn to God. I think Will lived to bring this large extended, blended family together.

And I pray he lived, so that that this becomes routine, and not just during a time such as this.

Will lived for all of you…Will, Little Man, mission accomplished. Well done!

It only took him 147 days to do amazing things in our lives. 147 days.

Imagine what you could do. Imagine what you could do in honor of Will n the next 365 days.

John 14:2-3 (NLT)
There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

Somehow, I think God made sure Will’s place was ready fast, because his heart was small…and so full of fight…and so tired…but it could only take so much.

Psalm 56:8,
"You, God, keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book."

The image there is that God is so moved by our tears, he collects and numbers every single one of them.

Eric Clapton wondered in his Grammy Award winning song that was just played about the loss of his six-year-old son, if there would be tears in heaven. And the answer is, yes.
Your tears are there. God is so aware of every single one of them. He's made note of them.

Just as a parent needs to know that his or her child is safe at school. Josh and Stephanie,
You long to know that Will is safe in death. We long for reassurance that the soul of a child goes immediately to be with God. But dare we believe it. Can we believe it?

According to the Bible we can.

Scripture is surprisingly quiet about this phase of our lives.

When speaking about the period between the death of the body, and the resurrection of the body, the Bible doesn't shout; it whispers. Kind of like you would lean over and whisper into Will’s little ear.

But in that whisper, a strong voice is heard.

This authoritative voice assures us that, at death, Will immediately entered
into the presence of God and enjoys conscious fellowship with the Father
and with those who have gone before.

Jesus said, "Bring the little children unto me."
And He said that for a reason.
Will is complete again

He will be missed. Our God is the God of all comfort and He can bind our broken hearts with His love. God loves you and sees your needs. Let Him meet those needs today
and every day.

Lean on Him today and every day until you meet Will again.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Tuesday, March 7th

Will's obituary ran today in The Commercial Appeal.

The address they have for Saving Little Hearts is incorrect. Send donations to:

Saving Little Hearts
5629 Barineau Lane
Knoxville, TN 37920

Make sure that you indicate that your donation is in memory of William Blake Burns. They are setting up a memorial fund in his name. Be on the lookout in a few weeks on their website where they will have a link about this fund which will have pictures of him and his story. I'll let you know when you will be able to see it. Their website is: www.savinglittlehearts.com

Monday, March 06, 2006

Monday, March 6th

We have made the funeral arrangements for little Will:

The funeral services will be held at :

Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens
9090 Highway 100
Nashville, TN 37221
www.harpethhills.com

The visitation will be held this Friday from 4-7 p.m.
The memorial service will be held this Saturday at 11:30 a.m.

Also be on the lookout this Wednesday in both The Tennessean and The Commercial Appeal for his obituary.

If you would like to send flowers, please contact:

Bouquets & Baskets Florist
7091 Old Harding Rd.
Nashville, TN 37221
615-662-7755

Also, for any of you who are coming in from out of town and need a place to stay, several people have offered their homes. Please call me at 615-498-0441 if you are interested.

Thank you once again for all of your comments and prayers. It means so much to us!