In Memoriam

Standing here before you this morning is perhaps one of the hardest things I have ever done. We are here not to attend a funeral but to celebrate a very short but special life. We are attending a celebration of life with a very special mass, the mass of the angels, and Breanna Barbara was our special angel.

Karen, I and our families want to thank each of you for coming today. Breanna comes from the Celtic root and is the feminine version of Brian which means strength. She lived up to this meaning, having survived numerous surgical procedures and living two months with bad lungs. Her nickname was BB, Breanna Barbara. The name Barbara was given to her as a tribute to her late Aunt Barbara, who died much too early in life of a broken heart. One reason for this was that my sister couldn't have children of her own, but she loved children and they loved her. Her nickname was auntie B and now she has a little one to care for in heaven.

Right after her birth, Breanna had some serious breathing problems and she was rushed into NICU. The doctors informed us that she had Pneumothorax, a condition that her chest was full of air and which prevented her lungs from inflating. Chest tubes were inserted to relieve the pressure to allow her lungs to expand. She also had severe pulmonary hypertension, that is pressure in her lungs so high that her heart couldn't pump blood to the lungs for oxygenation. 

She was transferred by helicopter from Fontana to Kaiser Sunset on Easter Sunday morning. At this facility she was treated with nitric oxide which in most cases relieves the hypertension but in her case it did not.  She was transferred Monday morning to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. This facility specializes in ECMO - "Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation" - for babies. The pump works like an artificial heart lung machine. 

Breanna at first seemed to respond to the treatment; she had good color and a good level of oxygenation in her blood, but after a few days she didn't improve enough to get off the pump. 98% of the babies treated this way respond to the treatment but Breanna did not. She had three ECMO circuits and in desperation the doctors changed her catheter site from a vein to an artery. The only thing that would save her life was a full lung transplant. She was evaluated and because she was perfect in every way except her lungs she was placed on the national transplant list and transferred to Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. She was placed on a 4th ECMO circuit. The doctors had started treating her with a drug called Flolan. On may 12th

The fourth ECMO circuit started having clotting problems and fearing a clot to her brain, the pump was removed and Flolan and the vent were her last hope until transplant. The drug Flolan dilates the vessels in her lungs and with the help of a ventilator she was able to maintain safe oxygenation levels. On Sunday June 10, after being on the drug for four weeks she was showing signs of being in trouble. She was still critical but stable but it was taking a lot more support to maintain good oxygenation levels. On Monday they did several procedures on her to try to see why. Tuesday she coded for the first time and we knew that if lungs didn't come soon we would lose her. On Wednesday June 13th, she died in her mother's arms.

Breanna touched hundreds, perhaps thousands. Her Web page was visited more than 1200 times, and this was after we installed a counter.  Over one hundred people tried to give blood for her and we can't even begin to thank them. We hope to have this blood drive continue in her honor because you don't have a clue how great the need for blood until someone close to you is the one that needs it. We can't thank enough the medical professionals that tried so hard to keep her for us. We can't thank enough our families, friends and co-workers for their support. We don't even know what to say to the campus community for their support except a heartfelt thank you. To the community at large for the prayers and wishes, we also thank you. 

I would like to share a couple of short stories with you. When things early on weren't looking too good we decided we had better get her baptized now. I was at Huntington memorial and called the local parish for a priest. I was told he was already in the hospital and went to find him. He came right away, and is celebrating this mass with us today. He is from Vietnam and his name is Father Nguyen. Many of you also know my wife Karen or NgocDung to her family who is also from Vietnam. Tell me what are those odds, need a priest and he is there and can also speak to my family in their native language. 

I was visiting Breanna at Huntington Memorial and Chris the clerk hadn't seen me come in. However she did think she was letting me a few minutes later. When she saw me with Breanna she reported me to the doctors and staff because I hadn't scrubbed. She later learned there was two of us. My brother Bob and I are said to look alike but I don't see it. This happened a second time when Bob was visiting Breanna with Karen, He asked the doctor how was she doing. The doctor gave him a complete report and thought I was going nuts when I asked for the same information a little later.

Many of you keep updated daily by checking her Web page. We can't even begin to thank our dear friend Gregg for putting it together and keeping it updated. I only had to make a phone call and as fast as he could post it the world knew the latest. There once again are far too many special acts to mention here but we once again want to thank you for sharing Breanna's short life with us. We were able to bathe her and change her, we got to see her happy, we got to see her sad. However, we never got to hear her laugh nor did we ever get to hear her cry. 

- Dave Schmidt, 20 June 2001
. St. Joseph Church, Placentia, CA