Feeling Thankful

Sasoun David

     It is Thanksgiving 2018. For the second year in a row, we just stayed home, Judy and I, and had a rare down day. Between the football, not overeating, getting some chores done around the house, and avoiding the hype and lure that is Black Friday, I actually had the time and inclination to reflect and be thankful. That is the essence of the holiday after all which is sometimes too much in the background.
     I am very thankful for my entire family. I love and value one and all. They make me smile and bring me joy. The older I am, the more important that is. This includes most certainly my wife, our children, our mothers, our aunts and uncles, our siblings and their spouses, our nieces and nephews, our vast extended richness of cousins and their families. I am thankful for the memories of our fathers, our grandparents, my sister, and aunts and uncles who have passed. I am thankful the richness of our friends both those we see often and those we should be more in touch with. I am thankful, also, for my encore career at North Park University. It is the capstone, for sure, to my career.
     Did I forget our grandchildren? No, not at all. Aris, Vaughn, Lara, Sasoun, and a fifth due in February are truly blessings in our lives.
     I am especially thankful for my youngest grandchild, Sasoun David Kapamajian. Sasoun was born late last year. We were, of course, delighted. A short week after his birth, we got some very scary news. Sasoun was diagnosed with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID). We were not sure what that was but were devasted when we heard it was “the Bubble Boy disease” or syndrome. Our little guy, basically, did not have an immune system. He could not get a cold… period. It was a gut punch to the entire family. We were in shock. Our daughter Armene and Sasoun went into a sterile, isolation, room at UCLA and we had no clue what was to happen and what the next steps were. Sasoun’s father, Michael, was wonderful working at his ophthalmology practice, coordinating Sasoun’s medical care, spending time with Vaughn, and explaining everything that was happening and planned to all of us. It was a tough December last year.
     Everyone we knew prayed for Sasoun. He truly has some of the best doctors in the world, specializing in SCID, caring for him. He has awesome parents who steered a steady course through these uncharted waters. Sasoun had his California grandparents Anna and Manuk who watched his brother Vaughn while he and his mother were in isolation for three months… yes, they were in a hospital room for three months.
     Medicine has advanced amazingly since the era of the Bubble Boy. We learned that early diagnosis was the key to treatment and healing. This is why SCID is screened for it a birth these days. The next step is a bone marrow transplant to trigger the growth of T-cells, the foundation of the immune system that was missing. Thankfully, Sasoun’s brother Vaughn was a perfect match. Secondly, Michael and Armene had had Vaughn’s umbilical cord saved and frozen. The umbilical cord was rich in stem cells was the source of everything the physicians needed for the bone marrow transplant, thus sparing Vaughn from having to undergo any medical procedure. On January 10th, Sasoun had the transplant and the transplant team celebrated this as his second birthday… which we certainly celebrate ourselves!
     Sasoun and Armene remained in the isolation room at UCLA until mid-March. They were there for three months! The positive side of this was that Sasoun had the full attention of his mother for three months. Three-year-old Vaughn was a trooper too. He missed his mother and face-timed with her a few times a day. He understood and weathered this interruption in his routine wonderfully. Because Sasoun’s numbers were heading in the right direction, mother and son were released to home isolation. The could only go out for doctor’s visits
     All through this, everyone kept Sasoun in their prayers. Everyone asked about him, his status, and how everyone was doing. It was a true blessing and, I am certain, had an impact. I am ever so thankful to everyone who kept him in their prayers.
     At this writing, they are still in-home isolation. As Sasoun’s numbers progress positively, the definition of home isolation is a wee bit looser than it was in March. And Sasoun? He is a happy, engaging, and fun little guy. He is unaware of his condition and all that he went through. That is as it should be and definitely another blessing for which we are thankful. We face-time with him regularly. He knows us and responds to our songs and little games.
      As Sasoun has turned one, we are ever so thankful for how this is all working out. He is not fully out of the woods, and it not clear to me to what extent he will ever be, but he is in a much better place than he was about a year ago. We are all much happier and optimistic, cautiously optimistic, and oh so very thankful.