Alaskans Mindy and Rob Seay are counting their blessings after their infant son Lincoln died in the hospital while being prepped for a heart transplant and was subsequently brought back to life by quick-thinking and talented doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Their ordeal brought them closer together as a family and left them with a lasting appreciation for life. At 20 weeks gestation, doctors discovered that baby Lincoln had severe heart defects that would necessitate the placement of a shunt via open-heart surgery shortly after his birth. All went well with the surgery, and things were good until Lincoln outgrew the shunt at age 3 months. A heart transplant was his only hope, and the family was mortified that they’d lose their precious son.

Lincoln needed to be closer to the Seattle, Washington, hospital that would save his life – Seattle Children’s Hospital – so the family moved there, taking their two older children along. Everyone made sacrifices along the way, with Rob taking on multiple roles so Mindy could stay at the hospital with baby Lincoln. Nearly three months after finding out Lincoln needed a heart transplant, a donor heart became available. The moment was bittersweet for the Seays, knowing that for their child to live, another child had already died.

Horror set in as the team prepped the baby for the transplant: Lincoln’s heart stopped beating. The doctors swung into panic mode, opening the baby’s chest, manually compressing his tiny heart and connecting him to a bypass machine. While prepping for a heart transplant usually takes around two hours to complete, these fast-thinking doctors did it in 12 minutes, a move that brought Lincoln back to life. He received the transplanted heart a few hours later, and within a short time, he was fully recuperated. Within weeks, he was discharged to go home. Baby Lincoln’s story is proof positive that miracles do occur, even in the face of adversity.
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