Holiday Memories: The gift of health for a sick child

Having had so many meaningful holidays over the past 40 some years and coming from a family of nine, I carefully scanned through the feelings and things that seemed most unforgettable. There are several.

The one that I would like to share is by far the one Christmas I will never forget. It has such special meaning not only to our family, but some very special individuals here in Carson City .

In March of 1999, our son, Ash Dauenhauer, was diagnosed with a very rare and puzzling gastrointestinal condition that was life threatening. After meeting with numerous specialists and an endless list of tests, Steven Taylor, M.D., started the process of unraveling the cause and defining the necessary procedures to help save my son. After preliminary tests indicated that surgery would be necessary, Dr. Taylor called upon William Thomas, M.D. and Ash was admitted into Carson-Tahoe Hospital.

The problem was quite complicated and Dr. Thomas explained what the surgery would entail, and also spoke about the "unknown" complications that might be found, including cancer of the pancreas. His liver was not functioning properly and when Ash was admitted to the hospital, he weighed a mere 113 pounds.

Dr. Thomas showed such diligence, as did Dr. Taylor, in collecting opinions from every specialist they could think of to call upon. Before the decision was made to proceed with the surgery, Dr. Thomas, in the most caring, humble way, explained that things were indeed serious. He told us that he had performed this type of surgery perhaps four or five times and would not be offended if we transferred Ash to the Medical Center for the surgery. My grandfather was a surgeon and a doctor and I looked into the eyes of this very compassionate, competent man and knew that my son was best in his hands.

The evening that Dr. Thomas was to perform the surgery, my husband and I walked with him as far as the doors to the operating room. The last words I said to him were,"May God guide your hands." He told me that was the first time anyone had said that to him before performing a surgery.

Ash, under the careful and skillful care of his doctors and the staff of the Carson Tahoe Hospital, recovered fully, after having some slicing, rerouting and reconnecting of his gastrointestinal tract, without complications. Ash took in home classes provided by Carson High School and passed all of his classes that year with the rest of his class.

That Christmas of December 1999 was one of the most joyous for us all. Ash had regained his health and weighed over 150 pounds. His sister, Danielle, flew up from school at USC to spend the holidays with us.

After Christmas dinner, we decided that the perfect way to end the day would be to visit the hospital and take little treats to the patients and say hello to the staff. But the main reason we went was to thank them for the care and compassion that was so much a part of Ash's recovery. We made the rounds, and the last floor we visited was the post-op ward. There were nurses there that had cared for Ash and that turned out to be our true celebration of Christmas, 1999.

I shall never forget the one nurse who had attended to Ash, who upon seeing him dropped everything in her hands and rushed to give him the biggest hug and kiss, with tears of joy streaming down her face. All she could say was,"Thank you for bring Ash to visit us."

This, the gift of caring and giving all of one's self for another is the greatest offering that any human can give another.

I will never forget that Christmas nor will I ever forget all of the many people who so selflessly labored with love of another life to return my son to a healthy, thriving individual.

There are some debts that can never be repaid and this is one of them. Thank you all of the Carson-Tahoe Hospital Staff and the physicians who worked so hard to save my son.