‘We saw a miracle occur’: family gives back after nearly losing son on Christmas - WECT

tampilansberita.blogspot.com

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - On Christmas Eve 2009, when Zachary Leake was six years old, he was rushed to the hospital with meningitis. His doctors at the time believed he wouldn’t survive the illness.

“We remember the nurse staff coming out and in. They were actually crying. We didn’t know exactly why but we found out later they didn’t think he was going to make it through the night,” said David Leake, Zachary’s dad.

His parents said they rushed out the door and brought hardly anything with them – with two young children, one who was very sick, they had nothing to use for comfort or entertainment.

When some nurses walked in with a few stuffed animals and some coloring books – donated by a local church – mom Angela Leake said it felt like a small glimmer of hope.

“You’re in these four walls of this nightmare,” Angela said. “You feel very isolated, you’re weary, you’re tired, you don’t know what’s going to happen, and so these items that were left were like somebody reaching into that room and saying ‘I care.’”

On Christmas Day, Zachary took a turn for the better. His right arm, which had seized up, relaxed again, he started recognizing his family again, and his skin turned back to a normal color after being ashen and gray. David said it was like watching “a miracle occur right in front of our eyes.”

The family never forgot the small gifts they received from some kind strangers during their hospital stay. The next year, for Zachary’s seventh birthday, he asked for toys to give to the hospital instead of for himself. From there, ‘Zach Sacks’ emerged.

Now, with the help of friends and strangers, the Leake family donates more than 100 large red bags filled with toys and comfort items to Novant Health for families spending Christmas in the hospital, like they did all those years ago.

They create age-specific bags for children from infants all the way to teenagers. They also donate some care bags for staff members.

For the Thompson family, who goes to the same church as the Leakes, donating a Zach Sack each year took on a whole new meaning when daughter Heather, then 16, spent Christmas Eve in the hospital in 2018. She developed toxic shock syndrome after a surgery to help a months-long sinus infection.

Her mom, Diane, said when they got out of the emergency room and into the PICU, in walked some nurses carrying a big red bag labeled ‘Zach Sacks.’ The irony: their family had donated a Zach Sack intended for a teenager just a few days earlier.

“We gained a new perspective on it and how much it actually meant to receive it in that time, because you don’t really think about that happening to you until it does happen,” Heather, now 20, said. “I think we gained a newfound appreciation for it.”

Heather still has some of the items she got from her Zach Sack, like a teddy bear and a blanket. She also used the experience to help pick out gifts for her family’s Zach Sack they continue to donate each year, like adding chapstick and lotion.

And for Zachary, now 19, giving back to those in the same position he was in as a young child is his favorite part of the holidays.

“Being able to pay that forward to other people and to share Christ’s love with them and to just help them remember why we celebrate the season ... [it’s] what Christmas is all about,” he said.

Copyright 2022 WECT. All rights reserved.

Adblock test (Why?)

"occur" - Google News
December 24, 2022 at 02:36AM
https://ift.tt/X1oLba8

‘We saw a miracle occur’: family gives back after nearly losing son on Christmas - WECT
"occur" - Google News
https://ift.tt/nViu09B
https://ift.tt/XqhSFIJ

Bagikan Berita Ini