By Shannon Williams
Thirty-one years ago, today, an angel got his wings, there were tiny wings, but wings that had been earned with all the suffering in the almost 4 short years we were blessed to have him on this earth with us. James Fletcher Mullen, was born on 6-16-1987. He was the second son born to one of my older brothers. He arrived a little early and surprised and shocked us all. My sister in law, had gone to Las Vegas with her parents for a little trip before the baby was due in a few months. She had a clearance from her doctor to fly and has always been one to follow doctors’ orders, so we never really thought much of her traveling. She was staying at the Frontier Hotel (ok, now I am dating myself!) and went to the bathroom as she was not feeling so well. As it turns out, she hit the jackpot that night as she went into labor and later delivered a very small, premature baby boy. They told us that the placenta had broken loose and there was really no rhythm or reason why it happened. Of course, his little lungs were way to small and there was a host of other problems.

I was on vacation in Ruidoso, New Mexico, I am not sure how I found out, as I know I did not get a cell phone till 1991 when my son was born, but still have the memory of being outside the convenience store using the payphone to talk to my Mother as she told me that James had been born early, and it was not looking good.

The Mullen’s are a family of faith, always have been and always will be; it has gotten us through life’s ups and downs, so we prayed. There was a young child at home, so the plans got put together to get someone to stay with him, so my brother could fly out to Vegas. We felt lucky that Las Vegas had a hospital with a neonatal unit, and those were not very common 30 years ago.

For the next almost four years, life was turned upside down for my brother and his family. I have no clue the trips that were made back and forth during those years, but there were so many. My sister in law stayed with the baby in the Vegas hospital, and my brother became a single parent to his young son. Both sets of grandparents jumped right in and did whatever they could. The aunts went out to be with James and his Mom as much as we could. Early on they told us he was too fragile to transfer back to Texas, so we just made it work. There were surgeries and procedures, up and downs, tears of sadness and tears of joy for every positive event. This went on and on, and got more and more complicated, as insurance polices ran out and interstate transfers were just not happening. He got little glasses and had the sweetest little personality. And the prayers kept going, from all parts of the country.

We were trying to get him well enough to leave the hospital and also back to Texas where he belonged. In the middle of all this, my sister in law got pregnant again. Heartbreaking decisions had to be made about who could stay and who had to come home. The transfer just was not happening. My dear mother wrote a letter to Barbra Bush, who was the first lady at the time. The letter started, Grandmother to Grandmother, I need your help. She got a letter and a few calls from her staff, but there was just too many issues and barriers and so James stayed in Vegas, for almost 2 ½ years, all the time in a hospital. He was transferred to a rehab hospital in Salt Lake City during all of this, and that trip, along with a very short trip to McDonalds one day were the only time he even left the hospital. He was a fighter and would come though massive infections and other setbacks and then the smallest of things would happen and change everything. In early 1991, the family welcomed the first (and only) granddaughter, who was born healthy and full term. The spring came and I gave birth to my son, you can imagine how anxious the family was during both of these pregnancies, but healthy babies, who are now thriving adults, arrived to bring joy to us all. The medical and legal issues just never stopped and in late May of 1991, James went home to our Lord. He taught us so much about some many things, he tested our faith and strengthened it also. He had a smile that really lit up the room. For never having a life outside of the hospital, he was loved by so many and today strong bonds remain with the nurses and others who travel the journey with us all.

[May-24-2022]