After the tragic loss of their baby, a couple received a call from the hospital that changed everything

For Katie and Josh Butler, the journey to parenthood was filled with both hope and fear. At 20 weeks pregnant, they learned their unborn son, Dewey, had a genetic disorder that would require immense medical intervention. Despite the daunting diagnosis, they held on to their belief that he would pull through, per Pop Sugar.

"I fully believed Dewey was going to get better,” Katie later recalled.

At 39 weeks, Dewey was born and immediately began a difficult battle, facing treatments and medications in the hospital. His fight for life culminated in a necessary surgery, a moment his parents hoped would be a turning point. Instead, it brought a devastating outcome.

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"While he was in surgery, Dewey's heart jumped into a strange rhythm that was completely unexpected by his medical team,” Katie explained.

Dewey was rushed to the cardiac floor, but his tiny body couldn't recover. The Butlers soon received the news that every parent dreads. “He didn’t make it.” The finality of the words was impossible to accept. "I didn't process it right away because Dewey had almost died so many times," Katie said. "I chose not to believe it, even after they rolled his little body in on his hospital bed — I was just hoping that Dewey was sleeping.”

The weeks that followed were a blur of unimaginable grief. They had prepared their hearts and home for a baby, and now they faced an empty nursery and a future they hadn't planned for. Two months after Dewey’s passing, just as they were trying to navigate their new reality, the phone rang. It was a nurse from the hospital.

The nurse's words were unexpected and life-altering. "There was a baby in the PICU that needed a family,” Katie remembered her saying. The child was a one-year-old boy named Braxel who was born very premature and was dependent on a trach and ventilator. He had no family to care for him. The couple was being offered a chance to become parents again, not in the way they had ever imagined, but in a way that felt like a fragile, beautiful lifeline.

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Without hesitation, Katie and Josh said yes. They immediately began the process to foster Braxel, welcoming him into their home and their healing hearts. The path wasn't easy; Braxel faced his own significant health hurdles.

"He is severely developmentally delayed in gross and fine motor skills and speech," Katie explained, "but we have five therapy appointments a week, plus a home health nurse to get him caught up.”

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Through it all, the Butlers found a new sense of purpose and a joy they thought was lost forever. "Braxel is full of joy. We believe he knows that every day is a gift,” Katie said. Their journey, born from tragedy, had transformed into a powerful story of love and resilience.

This article originally appeared earlier this year.