Devastated parents of a 2-year-old on life support had to make an agonizing decision when doctors said there was nothing more they could do. But this positive news story is a beautiful reminder that God is the one in control of life and death! It was Christmas 2015 when Dylan Askin’s parents experienced their worst nightmare. They rushed their son to the hospital as the toddler struggled to breathe. There, they received terrible news!
Doctors diagnosed Dylan with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) — an extremely rare type of lung cancer. As a result of the disease, cysts covered the poor boy’s lungs, causing one of them to collapse. The odds were not in his favor and things got even worse after he contracted pneumonia. By Good Friday of 2016, the 2-year-old’s condition was dire. Doctors said they couldn’t do anymore!
“They told us things were looking bleak and that we weren’t going to get him back,” Dylan’s mom, Kerry Askin, explained. “All the settings on all the machines were at their highest and he was still struggling. We had him christened, all his family came from all over to say goodbye, including his big brother.” Devastated, Dylan’s parents soaked in what was expected to be their son’s final hours.
“I hadn’t slept for days building up to it,” Kerry recalls. “I was crying all the time. They had actually closed off part of the unit so we could both stay with him overnight because [they] thought he could go at any minute. All the while we were singing to him and talking to him and saying goodbye.”But even during these grim circumstances, God was still very much at work!
Inspirational Story About A 2-Year-Old On-Life Support. The next day, Dylan’s family made the tough choice to pull the plug. Doctors began taking him off of life support. But then, something completely unexpected happened. The little boy’s heart rate actually returned to normal! “Stop! There is still fight in him!” Kerry told the doctors.
With amazement, Dylan’s doctors and family watched him grow stronger and stronger. Dylan just kept getting better. And Kerry knew her son’s recovery was due to divine intervention. “By Easter Sunday, he was stable enough that I felt comfortable enough to have a lie-down. I was strong in that belief that he was our Easter miracle,” she says.
“Then his oxygen levels started to pick up, and he started coming back to us,” Kerry said.In fact, the whole family recognized they’d witnessed a miracle! “When we told our eldest, he said, ‘He’s like Jesus’ – because he had been learning about it in school,” Kerry recalled. A month after waking up from his coma, Dylan was well enough to go back home. And two years later, he’s happy, healthy and cancer-free!
Dylan’s recovery wasn’t the only reminder of God at work in this inspirational story about a 2-year-old on life support. Throughout the suffering, the Akins family was shown Christ’s love through CLIC Sargent, an organization that assists families with cancer-stricken children. A social worker was assigned to the family by the benevolent foundation, who assisted them in finding funds to help with their medical expenditures.
as well as assisting them in balancing their hospital stays and meetings while still assisting their older son, Logan, with his schoolwork. “As we were living in the hospital, it relieved a lot of stress for us, and it was one less thing to worry about,” Kerry remarked. “It meant we’d be able to spend more time with our kids.” It has taught us the importance of spending time with them.
CLIC Sargent provided us with an invaluable gift: time with our child when we believed we didn’t have much time left.” Dylan’s family now devotes their time to working with CLIC Sargent to assist other families dealing with cancer-stricken children. Every Easter, they commemorate not only Jesus’ resurrection, but also God’s wonderful miracle in Dylan’s life!