Off the Ice

Here's a story of my friends Guy and Nicole Dupuis and their miracle baby from the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.


Cherishing the gift
Prayer sustained Komets defenseman and his wife in an off-ice challenge
By Blake Sebring bsebring@news-sentinel.com
Guy and Nicole Dupuis believe sometimes God reaches down to tap them on the shoulder. Sometimes it’s to remind them of something. Other times it’s to get their attention, and once in a while it’s just to let them know God is there.
They’ve had quite a few taps lately, and luckily, they’ve known exactly what each one meant. The Komets defenseman and his wife used their faith to provide stability and strength during a very trying challenge late in the season.
When Nicole was six months pregnant with their third child, she started carrying extra amniotic fluid and having pre-term labor problems. On Feb. 7 the doctor reported several troubling areas in the ultra-sound test and wanted the couple to see another doctor.
The second doctor agreed the child had several abnormalities and was 70 percent sure the baby had Trisomy 18 which affects 1 of every 3,000 births; or Trisomy 13, which occurs in 1 of every 5,000 births. In either case, life-sustaining measures are not recommended before birth. They were told the baby likely would not live to be born, or would not live for very long thereafter.
“The baby was in a breech position and the doctor explained that a normal delivery would result in his death,” Nicole said. “The doctor said he wouldn’t recommend a cesarean section because the baby would likely die at or shortly after birth.”
Further tests were ordered.
“He tells us there’s a 70 percent chance that the baby is not going to survive a few days, a week or two months and a 30 percent chance he might make it two or three years,” Guy said. “He did not think this was a child with Down syndrome.”
Devastated, Guy and Nicole went home to begin mourning the death of their son, to pray and prepare their children Brooke, 9, and Mitchell, 7. The four decided to name the baby Matthew, meaning “Gift of the Lord.” Their priest, Father John Kuzmich at St. Vincent’s Catholic Church, met with them to pray.
After Guy and Nicole told a few family members and friends, a prayer chain started that grew to include hundreds and then thousands of people. A call from a friend in Bakersfield, Calif., where Guy had played in 2002-03, said there were more than 600 people praying for them.
“What was comforting for us and helped us through was taking the attitude that life is a gift and if God gives us an opportunity to have Matthew for a few hours, weeks or months, we were going to cherish that gift,” Guy said. “That helped us to be positive and more optimistic. It was out of our control and in his, and that helped us.We’re his parents and if something happens and we don’t get to meet him here, then we’ll get to be his parents one day in heaven.”
When Nicole experienced signs of preterm labor, she called her doctor and told him she wanted something to stop the labor at least until further tests came back.
“I just couldn’t live with thinking that delivering this child was going to kill him since he was breech,” she said.
Four days later, the report came back saying the original diagnosis was wrong. The problem was Trisomy 21, or Down syndrome. The doctor was baffled and asked how aggressively Nicole wanted to be treated.
“Whatever I have to do, I’ll do to keep the baby in there,” she said.
Meanwhile the family continued to pray, as did thousands in expanding prayer chains. Nicole would lie in bed each morning praying over the baby. Some people congratulated them on having a Down syndrome baby.
“People we would talk to were like, ‘I’m sorry and I hope this doesn’t offend you, congratulations,’” Nicole said.
“Whoever gets congratulated that their kid has Down syndrome? For me that was great. I wonder if it happened that way so that we’d be excited for Matthew to come into our family.”
There were other moments when they felt God’s tapping. Guy had left Fort Wayne and the Komets in 1999, but came back this year when his family needed to be at home with Nicole’s parents, friends and their church. Nicole’s parents live next to family friends Jenny and Joe Bockerstette — who have a daughter Amy with Down syndrome and co-founded the Down Syndrome Association of Northeast Indiana.
“We already had a group of people in place to both educate and support us,” Nicole said.
When Nicole was 28 weeks into her pregnancy, because of the extra amniotic fluid she measured as if she was 38 weeks along. The doctor checked her weekly to see if she needed some fluid drained. The procedure carries a chance of infection or miscarriage so she dealt with the discomfort.
“We kept asking people for prayers and they kept asking other people,” Nicole said. “I got a card from a lady I don’t know who had a child with Trisomy 18 that died a couple of months after birth. She just wanted to let me know that she and her husband were praying for Matthew. I was so touched that they knew his name let alone were praying for us every night.”
“Honestly, the way that our friends and family prayed for us and asked others for prayers was amazing. We certainly didn’t feel alone going through this.”
During this entire time, Guy continued to go to practice and play defense for the Komets. He missed one practice and one road game. His teammates supported him and a couple said they were praying for him.
When he was at the games, he gave his cell phone to Komets trainer Shawn Dundon in case Nicole called in an emergency, because she was still experiencing signs of preterm labor. A couple times he was within a few seconds of going onto the ice when he’d call Nicole to see if he should play or not.
“It affected me emotionally somewhat,” Guy said. “…You have your normal mind-set before you go to the game, but I’d be home being wrapped up in all of this. It was difficult, but it also gave me a little time to focus just on hockey and have a release. I wasn’t able to do that every game. It takes a toll on you.”
After playing exceptionally well in February, his statistics slipped down the stretch, but he was still named the Komets’ best defenseman. The Komets ended their regular season April 15.
The next day — on Easter —Matthew was born.
“We both burst into tears because he was six weeks early,” Nicole said. “We knew that with Down syndrome he could have a lot of complications anyway, but coming this early we knew he could be in a lot of trouble.”
It was determined an emergency cesarean section was necessary, and Matthew was born 18 inches long and weighing 5 pounds, 14 ounces.
While Matthew stayed in intensive care for 12 days, his father would go to practice and then sleep at the hospital. He left with the Komets on Thursday for the playoff series against Rockford. The Komets were defeated in five games.
Finally, Matthew got to go home, where Guy’s mother had arrived from Canada to pitch in along with Nicole’s parents. The family kept asking for more prayers.
“I honestly believe it’s the prayers that have made him as healthy as he is,” she said. “He’s real strong. He has already rolled over at six weeks. From here we just love him and take care of him like we do our other kids.”
Several weeks later, as Nicole holds Matthew in her lap to feed him, a heart monitor’s lights flash from the floor. Everywhere Matthew goes the monitor gets picked up and goes with him. He’s been quarantined for a few weeks to protect him from infections, but has consistently gained weight.
As a friend of the Dupuis’ said, if ever there was a perfect family for such a baby to be born into, this is it. God has given him to a family that can handle the problems.
“Let’s see what the future holds for him,” Guy said. “Right now we are focusing on the blessing that he is in our lives. He really is a gift from God.”
As he sleeps in his mother’s lap, Matthew has no idea he has already affected thousands of people.
“He’s been pretty blessed and he doesn’t even know it,” Nicole said. “We don’t feel like God is done working miracles with him.”