We are Cam's parents. Our names are Isaac and Sarah Shields. We live in Central Illinois, about two hours south of Chicago. Sarah is a licensed social worker, who now stays home with Cam's little brother Benjamin, and Isaac is a high school science teacher.
A few months after we celebrated our 5th anniversary, we found out that we were expecting. With a due date in May of 2019, we were very excited and grateful to be adding a son to our family. The beginning of my pregnancy went very smoothly.
We waited for the "big" 20-week appointment in which we were told everything looked great and baby was healthy. Around this time, we also were referred to have a fetal echo (an echo is where the baby's heart is looked at in utero) because of our family history-Isaac was born with a congenital heart defect.
Heart heath was nothing new to us, given Isaac's congenital heart defect and his yearly doctor's visits. Isaac was born with dextro-transposition of the greater arteries and had heart surgery a few days after birth. He has always been very healthy and amazes many of his doctors to this day! In the most recent years, during his appointments, we began to talk about future children and what this may look like related to heart health. We were always told that the chance of any child of ours having a congenital heart defect was incredibly low (around 2-3%).
The healthcare team concluded that everything appeared typical and healthy based on the echo. Delivery in our local hospital was advised and, needless to say, we were relieved. However, about a month later at a routine doctor's appointment, doctors realized Cam was not growing as he should and our doctors were unsure as to why. We were then referred to a high risk obstetrician. A few weeks later, during this referred visit, Sarah was admitted to the hospital because the doctor wanted to keep an eye on her blood pressure.
Sarah spent 5 days (at 27 weeks pregnant) in the hospital with a heart monitor strapped on monitoring Cam. He had an unstable heart rate and doctors were concerned. Sarah ended up having an emergency c-section on February 19, 2019 at 12:36 am and Cam Isaac Shields was welcomed to the world. He weighed only 1 lb. 11 oz. but was a whopping 14 inches long (at just 28 weeks!) and had a head full of dark, beautiful hair! He was immediately taken to the NICU to be cared for. He appeared to be doing well but about 24 hours later, and after another echo, it was discovered that he had hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). HLHS is essentially where the left side of the heart is severely under-developed or absent. Isaac and Sarah were, of course, devastated and shocked.
Cam was then transferred to the Children's Hospital at St. Francis in Peoria, Illinois where he spent the remainder of his life. Cam passed away, only ever knowing love, while laying between his parents on February 23, 2019.
After Cam's passing, Sarah and Isaac knew they wanted to keep his memory alive and honor him in any way they could. Sarah has spoken at events for bereaved parents and has even advocated in Washington, D.C. on behalf of congenital heart disease awareness and research. In November of 2019, Cam's Cards was officially launched and in it's first year, raised over $8000.00! Thanks to countless donors, local newspaper, television, and radio publicity, a Super Bowl fundraiser, and a large fundraiser hosted by Isaac's school we far surpassed any goal we could have ever dreamed of. Numerous gift cards were purchased from local gas stations and fast food chains-those gift cards were then given to the hospitals Cam was cared for in and many families were able to have a bit of their financial stressors alleviated.
Since then, Sarah and Isaac were blessed with their second son, Benjamin Cam Shields, in August of 2020. We continue to devote lots of time to keeping Cam's memory alive. We plan to continue to honor him in any way that we can and make his name known. His life will not be forgotten. There are no words to describe the great love we have for him. Cam is our firstborn son and we are his parents, and we always will be.
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