Children's Mercy nurses inspire mother

Georgia Brown-Gibson could have spent the rest of her life working and living in Atlanta.

After 15 years she had grown fond of the southern hospitality, warm weather and beach just a half day’s drive from her house.

“I loved it there in Atlanta,” she said. “The people didn’t seem in such a hurry to get everywhere.”

But a sonogram in her 21st week of pregnancy marked the beginning of a journey that would take her from a comfortable life into the unknown.

“It was like a great big bubble where his belly was,” Brown-Gibson said, when the sonogram revealed a problem.

Brown-Gibson’s physician diagnosed her baby with omphalocele, a congenital malformation in which the baby’s liver remained outside the abdominal wall. Her doctor told her he had safely delivered two babies with the same condition.

“I was very worried,” she said.

Brown-Gibson’s physician told her a repair would be made during the first two days after the baby’s birth and her son would remain in the neo-natal intensive care unit for one week.

“But that’s not how it happened,” Brown-Gibson said.

A medical team transferred Brown-Gibson’s newborn, D.J, from Crawford Long Hospital to Children’s Health Care of Atlanta. At 22-hours-old he received a partial repair.

“That didn’t work,” Brown-Gibson said. “It looked like a Buddha belly.”

Brown-Gibson said D.J. remained in the hospital a total of 307 days due to multiple complications resulting from omphalocele. He required IVs to his head, a chest tube, breathing tube, feeding tube and sedation medication. Even with sedation medication D.J. became agitated and clamped down on his tube.

“He would code at least once a day,” she said. “He’d turn blue and quit breathing. I was terrified.”

Brown-Gibson, a single mom, quit her job as a bartender to spend her time with D.J. in the hospital. Her father, concerned, drove from Kansas City during one of her lengthy stays at Children’s Health Care in Atlanta.

“He was really bad,” said Jim Brown, the baby’s grandfather.

Brown did not want his daughter to face the daunting task of caring for her special-needs child alone. He encouraged her to move near family in Kansas City.

“You need to come home where you have support,” Brown told Brown-Gibson.

Brown-Gibson said yes to her father’s offer. When D.J. turned seven months old, she scheduled a life flight to Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy Hospital. Children’s Mercy intensivist Stephen Klem, MD, accepted D.J. as his patient.

Brown-Gibson said Klem immediately implemented a new strategy with D.J., removing the sedation medication and switching him to a customized trachea tube. D.J. responded favorably.

“He quit coding,” Georgia said. “He was actually awake. He started acting like a baby.”

Brown-Gibson said D.J. continued to thrive with treatment and care from Children’s Mercy and Klem eventually released into her care at home.

“He got such good care downtown (Children’s Mercy Hospital),” she said. “Everybody just seemed like they loved what they did.”

D.J.’s medical staff inspired Brown-Gibson to pursue a career in nursing at Children’s Mercy where she currently works as a Certified Nursing Assistant at the Overland Park location at 5805 W. 110th.  

Brown-Gibson said she wants to give back to other parents who cope with special needs children.

“I think God said, ‘Here, I’m going to give you this special kid,’” she said. “‘Then go help special kids and prove it can be done.’”

Brown-Gibson said she wants to earn a degree in nursing, but the timing has not been right yet. She said she will wait until D.J. attends kindergarten this fall, when she plans to start prerequisite classes at Johnson County Community College.

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