FARIBAULT, Minn. (KTTC) – A Faribault two-year-old is growing into his sports-loving self, despite a scary start.
“Vikings!” Bennett Shaft declared at his Faribault home, while wearing a Packers helmet.
Bennett may not have his loyalties figured out yet, but he has plenty of time to choose his teams.
“Basketball, baseball, football is really big right now,” said Bennett’s mother, Emily. “Hockey is another big one, so anything sports, anything with a ball, he just loves it.”
It’s mind-blowing for Emily and her husband, Garrett, to see their boy so active, considering what happened the day he was born.
“I had asked the doctor, I was like, is he going to be okay? Is he going to be okay? And she just said, ‘I can’t make any promises to you,’” Emily recalled.
For the most part, Emily had had a smooth pregnancy.
On December 20th, 2023, when baby was full-term, the Shafts went in for an induction at a hospital in Faribault.
Emily wound up having a C-section.
“Doctors immediately noted that he [Bennett] was like pale,” Garrett said. “Quickly found he had a very low blood oxygen, then kind of got whisked away to a separate room at that point.”
Doctors returned with the news Bennett needed to be airlifted to Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis.
“I was just absolutely terrified,” Emily said.
Children’s Minnesota’s Neonatal Transport Team was there within an hour of Bennett’s birth.
Garrett and Emily watched out their hospital room window as their son was flown away for care.
Garrett following shortly thereafter by car. Emily hadn’t yet been discharged.
Medical experts discovered Bennett had pulmonary hypertension.
Neonatologist and Medical Director of Neonatal Transport and Neonatal Virtual Care Dr. Emilee Parsons said the cause of Bennett’s condition was something she doesn’t see often.
“He had what’s called prenatal closure of his ductus arteriosus. It’s a connection in the heart that allows the blood to bypass the lungs because the placenta gives all the oxygen to the baby, and his closed before he was born. That caused his heart and lungs to have to work really hard to help him breathe,” Dr Parsons explained.
“That’s a really hard moment to go through when you walk up and see your child incapacitated there,” Garrett said.
Emily was able to join Garrett soon after at the Ronald McDonald house connected to the hospital.
They were close by, able to love on baby Bennett in the NICU.
A few days later, Bennett opened his eyes for the first time on Christmas Day.
“He was just so resilient and so strong, even as a baby,” Dr. Parsons said. “And his parents were also very strong and very courageous.”
During his stay, Bennett was even able to reunite with one of the staff members from the flight that saved his life.
After a month, the Shafts got the all-clear to head home.
“I felt like we had been through so much that we were kind of like numb to all the feelings but so excited to go home,” Emily said.
Since then, Bennett has grown big and strong, even welcoming his baby brother, Theodore.
“Today to see him be a big brother and love sports and just be like the sweetest funniest silliest kid, [we] just feel so lucky,” Emily said.
If you know a Kid With Courage Caitlin should meet, email her at [email protected].
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