Below is a compilation of emails sent by Clinton Brown to his family members and friends in regards to their child Sterling Ross Brown who was born on February 18, 2010.
Email sent Sun, Feb 14, 2010 at 11:58 AM
Hi Family,
On Friday, Paige and I went to a basic check-up with Dr. Hage and he decided to do an ultra-sound (not required to, but he did). While he was looking at the baby, he said “I don’t like this”. I was watching everything on the screen and could see the same thing he did- which was a large mass inside of our baby Sterling. He told us that he was going to call a friend who was a specialist in ultra-sounds with babies. This particular Doctor was not working that day, and Dr. Hage convinced this Dr. to meet us in Riverside at his office that same afternoon.
Paige and I cleared my calendar for the day, dropped off Pearce to Meredith and took off to Riverside. Once we were brought back into the room, the Doctor started to do measurements and detailed ultra-sounds. He figured out that as of Friday, Sterling was 7lbs 12 ounces. The computer also had the due date being between Feb 28th and March 7th.
Once he started to focus in on the large mass, he realized that it was in the exact spot that Sterling’s second kidney should have been. His one kidney looked perfectly fine and normal size, but this kidney, or mass, was much larger. To put it in perspective, a regular kidney is the size of a dime (at Sterling’s age) and this mass is the size of a ping-pong ball. That sounds small but on a little baby- that is pretty big. He did not want to speculate to much, but after a lot of probing by Paige and I he finally narrowed it down to two things- either a mass that was growing IN PLACE of the kidney or a mass that was COVERING the kidney. He felt that it was growing in place of the kidney because it was receiving blood flow from the renal artery. He printed out some information for us to read, and it is called Congenital Mesoblastic Nephroma.
Basically, it is a blessing that this was discovered while Sterling was still in the womb because the material we have read states that this tumor becomes much more aggressive after 3 months of age, and can even jump to other organs. So as a result, Sterling will have to undergo surgery within days after birth to remove the mass. Although we won’t know for sure what it is until the surgery, the Doctors seem very confident that it is not cancerous. However, this particular mass or tumor can turn cancerous over time if it is not addressed.
Paige will be doing all types of tests, monitoring, and we are going to have a second opinion from Loma Linda Hospital. We are hoping to meet with them this upcoming week. As far as the baby, from what they are saying Paige can go full term and Sterling should be ok. But of course, as parents of Sterling, we are still nervous about the unknown and even sad that our little baby will have to undergo surgery within a few days of his earth-life.
The Doctors think this could be hereditary once they heard that Paige’s Dad, Rich, was born with one kidney and also my sister Jenna was too. As we all know, they have lived normal lives with just one kidney. Also, Paige has a cousin who’s child had this exact same issue, but they did not discover it until the child was 3 years old and the mass/ tumor was cancerous. Her cousin’s daughter had to have it removed and had to undergo chemotherapy. Her daughter is doing great now, but once again, it helped us realize the blessing that Dr. Hage discovered this for us.
As the days go on, we will keep you up to date via email.
Email Sent Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 3:43 AM
We are headed in to deliver Sterling today. We are going to arrive at the Hospital at 5am, Dr. Hage will break Paige’s water at about 6:15am, then she is on. My guess is that we will have Sterling here by 8am (Paige goes quick).
We don’t know what the day has in store for us, but we can keep you posted throughout the day via email. Please keep Sterling (and Paige) in your prayers. Love you all!
Email Sent Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 1:38 PM
Nothing yet. We will keep you posted.
Email Sent Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 4:27 PM
Sterling is here! He is very cute and looks healthy. They are going to put him in the NICU tonight and do some testing. His tumor is the size of a plum now and tomorrow they are going to take him to Loma Linda for potential surgery
Email Sent Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 10:26 PM
First and foremost, I wanted to thank each of you for your kind emails, thoughts, and most importantly your prayers on behalf of our boy Sterling. I apologize for not updating you more regularly, but we have been very busy the last couple of days and very focused on Sterling.
He was born Feb 18th at 3:50pm, 21 inches and 7lbs 5 ounces in Redlands, CA. They put him in the NICU for observation throughout the night. Everything is functioning properly – most importantly he is urinating. That is an obvious concern with his kidney having a tumor on it. The other kidney is handling the process.
This morning, he was transferred to Loma Linda Children’s Hospital by ambulance at 11am. This is a hospital that people will travel from all parts of the US to receive care for complex cases. I followed him there (tailgated them…) and made it up to the NICU. I was there for a total of two hours and within those two hours had talked to several doctors and most importantly, to the surgeon who would ultimately work on Sterling. Paige and I’s biggest fear was that Sterling would get lost in the shuffle at Loma Linda and virtually ignored. I was so touched and impressed with the quick and detailed attention that they were giving him and wondered out loud as to why. One of the Doctors said, “What Sterling has none of us have ever seen. In fact, his ultrasound pictures and this whole experience will be used in text books to teach others.”
Paige and I also wanted them to get testing done over a couple of days so that his tumor would not have too much more time to grow. It went from 6cm’s to 7cm’s in a week. About the size of a plum/ racquetball. We were very happy to know that ALL TESTS were completed today in a matter of about 5 hours. Now, all we are waiting for are for the Doctors to get together and determine the best route.
We spoke at length with our surgeon who comforted us with his confidence in the procedure and with Sterling. We found out that he was a Bishop in Mission Viejo, CA and knows a lot of the same people we do. He said at the end of our conversation that he knew that “He would be an instrument in the Lord’s hands during Sterling’s surgery.” Paige and I felt very blessed that he would be handling our little boy.
We all agreed that the best thing to do is to remove the kidney all-together. Humans can live a full life with just one kidney. They anticipated this Tuesday to be the day for the operation and they felt Sterling could be home by Thursday or even Friday. They mentioned that the tumor would then be biopsied to make sure it is not cancerous.
Paige is doing wonderful and is a trooper. She only stayed in the post-pardem area for 24 hours and checked out so she could go be with Sterling. We have been able to be along side him most of the time while he is in NICU.
I wanted to ask each of you to consider fasting this Sunday for Sterling- not only for a successful operation but that his tumor is cancer free.
We love you
Email sent Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 6:43 PM
Just wanted to let you all know that Sterling went into surgery at about 6pm tonight, and is expected to be out at 9pm. Say a little prayer for him!
Email sent Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 9:12 AM
Hi Family,
As you know, Sterling went into Surgery last night around 6pm. At about 7:30pm I received a call from the Operating Room stating that his tumor was out and that they were winding down the surgery. At about 9pm, the Surgeon came up to Paige and I and was very positive. He said everything went well, that the tumor was much larger than they thought (8cm x 6cm x 7cm)….very odd shaped. He said the surgery was not as easy as he thought it would be, but that everything went very well. He stated that Sterling’s vitals during the surgery were all good and that he should be on a road to recovery. Probably the most important bit of information was that they did a quick test on the tumor and from what the surgeon could see it was not cancerous. He said the prognosis was good, and that a biopsy would be done and the results would be back to us in about 3 to 4 business days.
Sterling looked pretty beat up. Of course, he just went through a rough surgery. They have him on a ventilator until his organs begin to function again. The anesthesia put him under enough to where he needs help with breathing, etc. His incision is very large (we were told that would be the case) and it runs from right under his sternum downward to the left and around to his back. It will be visible throughout his entire life. I figure that for a boy, that is not a bad thing. I would brag about my scars. He’ll probably do the same. In fact, when he plays professional baseball we can let everyone know that he simply couldn’t wait to have a ball, so he was born with one inside of him.
Paige and I feel very blessed. Our hope now is that he makes a speedy recovery so he can come home where he belongs. Paige called in this morning and they mentioned he is slowly waking up, but that he is in pain so they are ordering more morphin to help him with that. We are going to go in there today at noon to be with him.
Thank you again for all your thoughts, prayers, and for fasting for Sterling. We know that the Lord’s hand guided our surgeon. We love you!
Email sent Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 8:48 AM
Hi Family,
I wanted to let you know that we received the pathology reports back on Sterling’s Tumor and the results were excellent- NO CANCER! It did end up being Congenital Nesoblastic Nephroma, which is what we wanted if we had our choice of tumors. Of course, Paige and I were thrilled to hear this news, but at the same time felt that this would be the case. Not because of overconfidence, but mainly because of strong feelings we were having during blessings and also during prayers. We were definitely comforted by the Holy Spirit throughout this time.
Sterling is currently in the end stages of recovery. My Dad and I gave him a blessing on Wed night when he was in a coma-like state (still had anesthesia), and yesterday (Thurs) morning he was pretty alert and was looking at Paige and I. His skin color was great and he looked good and MUCH better than even the previous night. Paige was able to hold him most of the day yesterday – first time in about 3 days. She was very happy. Sterling reacted well being in his mother’s arms as his blood pressure would go down when she would hold him.
Now, we are doing all we can to get Sterling home to us. What we have left to do is get him to start to eat on his own, and get his blood pressure controlled. Once that is done, he can come home and feel the love that we all have for him.
Thank you again for your prayers! We love you!