re: Prayer Request for Baby Renee

Posted this morning.

With great sadness and an incredibly broken heart, I regret to inform you all our sweet, pure, beautiful daughter, Renée Bernadine Wahl, passed away peacefully in her loving parent’s arms.

She fought long and hard, and overcame every obstacle ever thrown her way. She gave us one last fight, so we could be able to hold her as she met Jesus. She did everything we ever asked of her to make it home. She is the strongest, most beautiful baby I know. I am so incredibly proud of how strong she is and how many lives she touched in her short 8 months of life. We never would have thought we’d be gifted with such a beautiful child who would make a lasting impression on thousands of people across the world. I am forever honored that I was chosen as her mother.

From diagnoses ranging from complete heart block, small for gestational age, prematurity, ROP, and pulmonary hypertension among others she paved her own way in the medical field, rewriting textbooks and surviving against all odds. She taught so many medical professionals with her unique case, creating treatments for future children in similar circumstances. She had her own way of getting her way every single time. She had me wrapped holding her paci through every echo and medical procedure I would be allowed to observe. I would stand for minutes to hours just making sure she was comfortable. She was our sour patch kid, giving her nurses the side eye whenever they would show up to her bedside, followed by the sweetest look of appreciation in her beautiful eyes. She was very expressive and communicated through her eyebrows (probably a symptom of everyone wearing a mask around her). She made a lasting, unforgettable impression on those who cared for her.

Her medical complexity made her story very interesting, but most importantly she brought people to God. Her beautiful face made many people drop to their knees begging God to yield in her recovery. Her perseverance and strength allowed many to trust in God to overcome their own personal struggles. She reminded everyone of how precious life is. We prayed constantly for Renee to be able to come home, and our prayers were answered. We should have asked for more…I will never understand why after 8.5 months our child was taken from us after how hard she fought and all she had endured to get home. As NICU parents, we flirted with death so many times this fear was always in the back of our minds every time we received an ounce of bad news. Once we finally made it home, I thought we had crossed that bridge. However, I can look back to the day before she was born and be so incredibly blessed and thankful we even got 8.5 months with her.

Thank you for celebrating every milestone with us and cherishing her life. Her legacy will continue to live on forever. Please continue to pray for us.