MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fourteen years and thousands of miles after the beginning of Go Jim Go, WREG’s Jim Jaggers has been putting the pedal to the metal to children at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.
One Memphis family said the medical miracles at Le Bonheur do come true, especially when dealing with high-risk pregnancies.
“Some guys, some men who have a son don’t want to show a lot of affection to them,” Richard McCain, Sr. said. “Every time I see my son, I want to hug him and kiss him — even at 8 years old today.”
Inside the McCain family home in Bartlett, it’s hard not to show a lot of affection for little Richard McCain, Jr., who’s better known as R.J.
R.J. loves strumming his guitar, but he can be a little shy sometimes when it comes to singing in front of an audience. R.J. is also a NASCAR racing enthusiast. His favorite drivers: Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch.
R.J.’s parents, Richard and Stephania McCain, had to wait seven years before they could have R.J.
“We had a couple of miscarriages to where we were dealing with that,” Richard said. “It was actually January of seven years of being married we found out we were expecting.”
For the McCains, it was a blessing, but it was also going to be a high-risk pregnancy
Six months into the pregnancy, Stephania began having contractions. R.J. was ready to make his entrance into the world ahead of schedule.
“I was barely six months pregnant,” Stephania said. “I was like what do you mean?”
Richard Sr. is used to handling emergencies, as he’s an airport police officer. But he had to deal with a different kind of emergency that his close to home when he got a frantic call from his daughter.
“And to hear my daughter on the phone, hysterical, and they’re wheeling her across the street, and they’re about to admit her, and we need you here now,” he said.
Stephania had dilated three centimeters, and there was a tear in the amniotic sack, causing fluid to leak. Her doctors attempted to stop the contractions with no success, and four days later, R.J. was born. He was tiny.
R.J. was so small that his lungs were severely underdeveloped. He was immediately placed on a ventilator, and a gastro-intestinal perforation on his small intestine caused him to spit up bowel.
“I was lying there, and I was just crying,” Richard said. “I knew he was okay at the time, but I knew in my heart, but I knew he wasn’t go home with me, and I wouldn’t be able to hold him.”
R.J.’s doctors knew the best place for him would be Le Bonheur.
“God works in mysterious ways,” Richard said. “As soon as I was parking the car and walking in and someone was asking who we were, someone met us in the lobby, escorted us up to the NICU area and gave us play-by-play-by-play of what was going on, and that was phenomenal.”
Phenomenal care would be needed. R.J. would be at Le Bonheur for four months and fifteen days. He underwent several major surgeries
“Fortunately, R.J. got here in good shape,” Le Bonheur Dr. Max Langham said. “We were able to get this fixed up. He had couple of subsequent operations, but steadily got better.”
Now, R.J. is thriving and getting stronger every day.
“I remind him he’s a great young man of God,: Richard said. “Just to watch the favor over his life, that God has over his life, is amazing to me.”
The little guy’s face says it all about the exceptional care he received at Le Bonheur, a special hospital for a special little boy named R.J. whose life was saved.
“Thank you, Le Bonheur, for taking care of me,” R.J. said.
