Caught on Video: Amazon Delivery Driver Stops To Pray for Boy with Heart Defect
One of the wonderful aspects of social media is how people can support important causes, even when they don’t know the people spearheading them. Fundraisers, prayer chains and informative posts can all be great ways to learn and help in a greater capacity than we could otherwise through in-person circles.
One baby boy who has gotten some notice of late is Lucas, the 8-month-old of Derek and Raquel Pearson from Caldwell, Idaho. He has a condition that many haven’t heard about, but that impacts his daily existence.
“Lucas was diagnosed with an aberrant right subclavian artery (ARSA), a congenital vascular anomaly,” his GoFundMe states. “ARSA is often times asymptomatic, but can lead to dysphagia lusoria or other swallowing dysfunctions in a select few.”
“Unfortunately, Lucas has had a hard time eating since birth and his symptoms include choking and aspirating which have adversely affected his quality of life. Since birth, we have been on a long journey to find a solution so that he is able to eat pain free and live a normal life.”
Lucas’ case came to the public eye after a heartwarming incident that was captured on his parents’ doorbell camera. Because so many of their son’s supplies are delivered to their house, they posted a note on their door to thank delivery drivers.
“We have an infant with medical needs and online deliveries are essential to his health,” the note reads, according to Inside Edition. “You are helping keep our son alive and well.”
One Amazon driver, Monica Salinas, was so moved by the note that she took a moment after dropping off a box to have a word with her heavenly Father.
“There’s a lot going on in the world right now but we believe in the goodness of humanity,” his parents posted along with the video. “This is the moment we captured Monica, our Amazon driver, praying for our sweet boy.”
“This video is a good reminder that although it may feel lonely, we are all in this together and we are never alone.”
The video is short but poignant, and is just the little bit of encouragement some people have needed.
“That’s the kind of stuff that makes my heart cry and I felt the need to pray,” Salinas told Inside Edition. “The food that we are delivering, saves this baby every day.”
“God, Heavenly Father, please protect this family,” Salinas recalled praying. “Help them get through another day, please don’t let them go without, and baby, just grow up to be strong. And then I said ‘Amen’ and I blessed myself and got on my way.”
For those interested in following Lucas’ journey, his parents have started a Facebook page that they update with details of his condition and the daily realities they face.
“Lucas has been doing really good lately!” a post from Thursday read. “It may be hard to understand his condition, but dysphagia is by far our main concern. We’ve been in quarantine because of how inconsistent his eating patterns are.
“Some days he does well while other days are an absolute battle. His bad days include arching, choking, and refusing to eat, ‘wet’ sounding breathing and a whooole lot of crying all day and night … those days are physically and mentally debilitating as parents.”
“His eating is very inconsistent and we can go from one extreme to the other very quickly with no explanation,” the post continues. “Keeping his weight up has taken a lot of trial and error and an incredible amount of work. He still gets overwhelmed after a few bites of purées, but he’s had a great month of eating.
“We’ve been approved for a G-tube to help mitigate the tough days, but we’ll still have to work on how to safely orally feed him as he grows. Nonetheless, we have a lot to be thankful for. He is generally healthy, happy, and keeps us smiling every day. He is worth every bit of effort a million times over.”
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