Thank you!

We would like to extend all of our thanks to everyone to has been such an amazing support to us. It is wonderful to know how loved Bridger is. We are very appreciative for all of the beautiful flowers and all of the donations made in memory of Bridger. I will continue to use this blog to document all of the activities that we participate in for Bridger. We would like to thank my uncle Lee for giving us the idea of a tree for the festival of trees. Danny and I are going to decorate one each year to donate, we will also participate in the heart walk this September in Bridger's name. I know it won't be as exciting, but we will still keep posting pictures of these events. Thank you again for everything. I hope that we can live up to our son's impact and strength.

Bridger's Obituary

Bridger James Smith 09/04/2008~08/08/2009 Bridger was gratefully received by Staci and Danny Smith on September 4, 2008 in Salt Lake City. From the moment Bridger entered this world, he had a way of winning the hearts of all those around him. From birth to the end of his time here on earth, Bridger fought many battles and until the morning of August 8, 2009, he was able to persevere with a smile. It was while in Texas being evaluated for a heart-lung transplant that Bridger faced his final battle in this world. Bridger is a miracle to his parents, to the medical world and to all those who had the privilege of knowing him. We will forever miss our beautiful, blue eyed boy and look forward to the moment we see his smiling face again. We would like to give our love and gratitude to all of our family at Primary Children's, because of your love for our son and dedication in your work, we had an amazing 11 months and four days with Bridger. Bridger we are all better for knowing you. Your mom and dad love you more than you will ever know! Thank you for choosing us! Services will be held at Jenkins-Soffe Mortuary at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 15, 2009, 4760 South State Street, Murray, Utah, with viewings on Friday at the mortuary from 6-8 p.m. and Saturday 10-10:45 a.m. prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, a foundation has been arranged in Bridger's name at Primary Children's Medical Center. All funds raised will go toward sleep chairs in the Pediatric ICU. Online condolences at www.jenkins-soffe.com

Coming home

We are bringing our sweet angel, Bridger, home to Utah this morning and I am terrified. As each moment passes, it brings me one step closer to the reality. So far everything has been a big haze with little moments of recognition that Bridger is not in this world anymore, but I fear that walking into our house without him will really smack me in the face..........I don't know what else to say.............Bridger I love you!

The Services

Danny and I want to thank all of you for your endless prayers and support. We love our little boy more than anything and though we have always known this would come, we secretly hoped that he could continue to perform miracles. I think that if it were up to his soul, he would still be here, amazing us at every turn. Unfortunately his body could no longer keep up. I was with him when it happened and was able to hold him for hours afterward until Danny arrived in Texas. We do not regret giving Bridger every chance at life, but my heart is broken that he was not cared for by his family at Primary's in his last moments of life. Even the short time we were in Texas, he had the staff hooked. More than one person came tearfully to our room after he passed. He is just so amazing. The funeral services will be this Saturday, August 15, 2009 @ 11:00am at Jenkins-Soffe Funeral Home (4760 S. State Street) with a viewing at 10:00 that morning as well as Friday evening from 6:00-8:00pm. Danny and I are so grateful to all those who have been a part of Bridger's life, as well as ours. We are especially touched by all of our family at Primary who had a part in helping our boy be so happy, even living in a hospital.

We Love You Bridger

After his nearly year long battle, Bridger has decided to return home. Our special little guy gave us so much to be thankful for and proud of during his short time on Earth. Bridger will be sorely missed and always loved by all of his cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, friends and everyone else who had the pleasure of meeting this little fighter. We will be forever grateful for the time we were able to spend with Bridger, even if it was way too short. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Staci and Danny.

Onward and upward

The titrations of Bridger's PRAs are back. There is one antibody they would need to avoid in a donor, but otherwise we are okay. The evaluation for transplant is kind of like a scavenger hunt, you have to research and evaluate one thing before you can move on to the next. Next for us is a chest CT scan on Monday to see what Bridger's vessels look like. He will also have more blood drawn on Monday for the heart end of things, these results could take up to a week. We got moved into the progressive care unit last night. Bridger and I each have our own beds and even our own bathroom and shower, there is a big window that looks out on to the city and an actual door to close the noise out. As long as Bridger stays stable for Bridger, we will stay here. Until Monday we just need to sit tight and do our best to prevent infection or any cardiac/pulmonary crisis.

A lesson in biology

Bridger is standing on the floor and holding onto the chair with physical therapy.

Today we will have a lesson in biology. Bridger's PRA levels are back. There are two classes, class I and class II. If the class I is greater than 10%, they will not list him for transplant. Bridger's class I is 0%, so we are home free there. His class II is 15%, which could be worse, and it is not a deal-breaker for transplant. So now they will further analyze his class II PRAs to see exactly what they are, and for now we continue on with the evaluation. On Monday he will be schedules to have a chest CT scan to look at all of his vessels and he needs a developmental evaluation. We are hopefully moving to the progressive care unit today, where Bridger will not have to share his bed with me and we will have a little more room to walk around. As for our pictures above, Bridger has been working with physical and occupational therapy the last couple of days. He knows that they are new and is trying to get away with fussing at them so they will leave, he has been with his old PT and OT for so long, they knew how far to push him without really making him angry, but this team has to start from scratch. Bridger is sure giving them a run for their money. When I hear more on the PRAs I will post, but for now we are still a go on the evaluation.