Five years after Liam Gregory and his family spent six months living in the Mid-America Transplant Family House in St. Louis before and after his heart transplant, their story came full circle.
Liam and his parents, Laramy and Jessica Gregory, were present at the groundbreaking of the new $10.5 million Family House facility last month.
The new Family House — where families stay while one of their own awaits and later recovers from a transplant — will be Mid-America’s own building with over 20 rooms for families, plus multiple community rooms.
“The groundbreaking was such a neat experience,” Laramy Gregory said. “They had Liam his own hard hat, with his name on it, and a mini-shovel and put him front and center for the pictures. We got to reconnect with some of the Mid-America staff and with (former State Rep.) Steve Cookson, who received his (liver) transplant only three months ago. It was great seeing the bond he and Liam had and comparing their ‘battle scars.’”
Seeing Cookson at the groundbreaking was a highlight for the Gregory family, who have grown close to the former Missouri legislator.
“It was great to see Steve and see how great he is doing after his own transplant,” Laramy Gregory said. “We connected with Steve years ago when we did the Donate Life game at Three Rivers College and have been following along his journey every since. Liam prayed for him every night while Steve was in the hospital (to get) his transplant and it was great to catch up with him at the groundbreaking.”
Cookson also had words of praise for Liam and his family, referring to Liam as his best friend.
“I think Liam is an incredible story and they’re an incredible family,” Cookson said. “They’re just an awesome family.”
Liam’s story began on Sept. 30, 2015, when he was rushed to SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis with difficulty breathing. Thirty minutes after arriving, Liam went into full cardiac arrest and staff at Cardinal Glennon performed chest compressions on him for around 25 minutes.
The cardiac arrest and the ensuing chest compressions resulted in Liam having a stroke. Doctors later realized that Liam had dilated cardiomyopathy, where the ventricle of the heart stretches and thins (dilates) and can’t pump blood as well as a healthy heart can, meaning that he would need a heart transplant.
The Gregorys were offered a chance to live in an apartment in the Mid-America Transplant Family House in December as they awaited Liam’s chance at a new heart.
“It was a fully-furnished two-bedroom apartment that featured a parking garage and a hallway of rooms blocked off for transplant families only,” Laramy Gregory said. “It was a great location, minutes away from the St. Louis Zoo and across the street from the Mid-America Transplant office which hosted many parties and events for transplant families.”
That new heart came on Christmas Day 2015.
“Around 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve, I got a call from Jessica and she was crying,” Laramy Gregory said. “She said ‘Erin (our transplant coordinator) called and let us know we may have a Christmas present.’ … At midnight, we received the call that the heart was good and they would take him back at 3 a.m. to prep for transplantation. … When they rolled Liam out of his room and down the hallway, the nurses and some of the families who knew what was going on lined the hallway. Liam was smiling from ear to ear and blowing kisses the whole way down.”
Liam was released from the hospital on Feb. 19, 2016, after roughly 4 1/2 months in the hospital. While the family was still staying at the Family House for follow-ups, they could finally be alone as a family again.
Even more amazing is that while this was going on, Jessica was pregnant with the family’s third child, Liam’s younger brother Elijah. He was born 10 days after his brother was released from Cardinal Glennon.
One month after Elijah’s birth, Liam and his family got to go back home on March 29, 2016, after a six-month stay in St. Louis.
Liam is now seven and finishing first grade at Eugene Field Elementary. Laramy Gregory said that Liam is a “math and reading whiz, thanks to his incredible teachers and therapist from Poplar Bluff Early Childhood, Poplar Bluff Kindergarten Center and Eugene Field.”
“Liam is doing great now,” Laramy Gregory said. “He still has issues with his right foot, but he has learned to adapt and overcome that issue. He has excelled in reading and math in school and loves doing them.”
All of which made getting to attend the groundbreaking for the new Family House that much sweeter.
“When we lived in the Mid-America Family House, it was so incredible the amount of support we had from other transplant families,” Laramy Gregory said. “They decorated our door when Liam got his heart, when he came home to the apartment, when Elijah was born and when we were being released to go back to Poplar Bluff. They were there to help in any way possible.
“The other great thing about Family House was having a kitchen. It was great to be able to do normal things like make cookies and cook a homemade meal that we had missed so much.”