Featured cherub of the week is Canyon Ryse Cason, born April 22, 2018, took a breath and went straight into the arms of the Lord, forever in our hearts.
His parents, Randi and Chris Cason, had this to share about their son:
“We are Randi and Chris Cason. We met in 2015 and we married October 2016. Ever since Chris and I first met we talked about starting a family. Well at the end of November 2017 (1 month after our 1st wedding anniversary) we got the long awaited news WE’RE PREGNANT!! As a little girl, all I ever wanted to be was a wife and mother. Life was perfect. My husband and I were on cloud nine going through all the 1st time pregnancy phases. Now here is the part where the guilt starts, I never really felt pregnant. Nothing had really changed for me except I was losing weight at first and I was more uncomfortable than normal. I didn’t work at the time so I was relaxed and not stressed, did the housewife thing and went about the day. The day finally came when the Dr. told us we were having a boy. We prayed for a little boy with my creativity and his Daddy’s sweet face. Again, life was perfect. Fast forward to March 2018, my husband’s grandmother who had helped raised him and was a mother figure to him had a tumble and ended up in the hospital. We are a very close family so we were at the hospital several times that week. On the 2nd of April we had our monthly checkup. The nurse led us into a room and at that point let us know that there was a problem. My husband and I looked at each other and tears immediately rolled down my face. The Dr. finally made his way in after the nurse asked a million questions beforehand. Although, he would not give much information when we asked the questions. He informed my husband and I that our son had CDH and that he would not live. I was informed that I was too far along in my pregnancy to terminate and that I would have to deliver. We could not speak. My husband grabbed me and I just broke. The next thing I remember is trying to find the courage to call my Mom and Dad. Knowing that our son would die was never a thought that we processed well.
April 2018 was the hardest month of our lives. We had just found out the news about our son, now Chris’s grandmother passed away two weeks later. My husband is a very quiet man and does not show emotion well and now I needed to be there for him. 2 weeks later my husband and I were enjoying his day off when I started feeling lots of gas pressure. I had not been able to go to the bathroom for a couple of days so I assumed it was extreme gas pressure. It got worse throughout the day and finally we called the Dr and went to get checked out. Being as this was my first pregnancy I did not realize I was in labor, but I was panicking. We got set up and a team of 15 doctors and nurses came in to let me know at 25 weeks your baby will not survive. Processing this thought with my family in the room and going through labor, life was no longer perfect. Canyon Ryse Cason was born 04-22-2018 took a breath and went straight into the arms of the Lord.
CDH took our sons life, and we never had even heard about CDH until the day we found out he would die. Every doctor’s visit so many things were discussed but never CDH. I was an “older woman” so higher chances of babies with Down Syndrome, your very healthy, everything looks good, but never ever CDH. After our son passed away it took a very long time for me to get up and face the day because I couldn’t save him. I couldn’t do anything but let him go.
We still grieve every day. We say Canyon’s name every day. We will always love our son. Since then my husband and I have found new purpose. We have started our own wood art decor business and he is now going back to college for his business degree. Life is not perfect, but it has new meaning. We have become advocates for a birth defect that not many people know about. God put us here for a reason. Canyon continues to let Chris and I know he is here every day. One white butterfly always appears and then disappears in the same moment. We have learned to find peace in the small things in life.”
