Isaac Daniel Greenlaw, born January 27, 2006 to Mark and Tricia Greenlaw, after praying for his arrival. Isaac's Daddy had been blessed to be a father to two other kiddos in his lifetime as a "dad who stepped up" aka stepdad, but had long awaited the arrival of his little mini-me (hence his name Isaac, just as Abraham had named his long awaited child). 

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Beyond praying for his healthy arrival Tricia was on bedrest 29 weeks of her pregnancy. During her long days back then she took notice of a big push for folks to store their umbilical cord blood, hailed for it's stem cell potential that could be used for future needs to help families facing certain health crises. It didn't take much research for Tricia to determine paying for cryostorage of Isaac's cord blood was not fiscally an option for them, but the alternative of being disposed of in a biohazard medical waste bin didn't sit well with her either. There had to be a better use of something so valuable.

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She reached out via email to researchers at the University of Rochester after Googling "stem cell researchers in Rochester NY" and offered Isaac's cord blood for stem cell research if there was interest; indeed there was. Dr. Craig T. Jordan coordinated with the OB/GYN on the proper collection and transfer of the umbilical cord blood the day Isaac was born.  Their research, in part utilized Isaac's cord blood stem cells, and found some promising treatment options for Myeloid Leukemia with parthinolide. Dr. Jordan was kind enough to provide us an email update and the researchers acknowledged Isaac's contributions to their work when they published their study results. See the pictures below.

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July 16, 2006 was Isaac's Child Dedication Ceremony at church. 

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Fast forward to the morning of July 25, 2006; at 5 months 28 days old the boy could crawl (doing the downward dog poses as if to stand soon), cutting his 3rd tooth already. His Daddy gave him a bottle at 3:00 AM and all appeared okay. When his Mama got home she went to check on him expecting to find him sleeping (as it wasn't uncommon for him to sleep 6 hour s after a bottle); instead she found he had gotten tangled in the fitted crib sheet when it slipped off the corner of the mattress. His little legs were blue and mottled as Tricia unraveled Isaac she yelled for Mark to call 911.

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Mommy, a nurse and CPR instructor at the time, did CPR on him desperately tried to revive him. First Responders arrived within 2 minutes and took over CPR as neighbors rushed over to escort Isaac's then 6 year old big brother out of the house. Family and pastors from our church (at the time The Father's House) congregated at the Strong Hospital. The fine doctors and nurses of the Peds ED worked on him and in a short time pronounced him dead. The fantastic nurse manager contacted Tricia and Mark's respective nurse managers (since they both worked at URMC) and they were immediately supported by some of their fellow co-workers who grieved with them as well. For 6 hours they were able to hold Isaac and his big brother like no other, Tyler, got to say good-bye for now.

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It takes only 3 minutes for a healthy infant to suffocate according to the medical examiner; Tricia had a lengthy conversation with him after the autopsy to try to wrap her nursing noggin around the clinical presentation of her sweet boy as she desperately tried to resuscitate him. Please do not use fitted crib sheets - there are safer alternatives such as Quick Zip sheets (learn more at the Safe Fitted Crib Sheet Alternatives page). 

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