Posted on 02/10/2012 6:24:52 AM PST by TSgt
TEXAS -- Less than an hour- that's how long Mark Aulger got to see his daughter, Savannah, before he died.
The Colony father had recently learned that he had survived colon cancer, but his wife said months of chemotherapy badly deteriorated his lungs.
"It was basically like his lungs were soaked in concrete," Diane Aulger said. "They couldn't inhale or pass oxygen throughout the body, he was in essence, suffocating to death."
In January, his condition worsened, and he was admitted to the hospital.
Doctors said his lungs were badly scarred and he was given just days to live.
His wife, who was eight-months pregnant, was induced two weeks early so Mark would be able to see his unborn daughter.
"He got to be the first one to hold her, [and he] held her for 45 minutes," Diane Aulger said.
Those few moments together are all he got. Mark fell into a coma a few days later.
Savannah is the couples' third child together, and Diane has two other children from another relationship.
But Diane Aulger said all the kids treated Mark like their father.
"My ten-year-old said, 'Is dad asleep?' [And] I said 'No, he's in a coma,'" Diane said through tears. "He said, 'Is he going to make it?' I said, 'No,' and he screamed. My eight-year-old screamed and cried, 'I'm not going to have a daddy.'"
Mark died five days after his daughter was born. He spent his final moments in a coma.
His family was by his side, his infant daughter Savannah under his arm and holding his wife's hand.
Heartbreaking, and sweet. At least the little girl will have a few pictures with her daddy. That’s a rough road ahead for five young children and their mother without a father.
A friend of mine lost her son to colon cancer in his thirties. A wretched disease.
I have Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. Same deal, slowly smothering to death. It will be a hard road ahead for this family. I can’t do a lot these days, but it takes very little effort to lift those in need in prayer. My prayer is that this mother will have God's grace and strength to raise these children with wisdom. I love the name Savannah. I have a grown granddaughter named Savannah Grace.
On my knees for you and those you love, Coldwater.
Thanks!
God bless you and all your family, Coldwater Creek. He is with you always.
What a touching story. My sainted mother has 11 grandchildren, but she only got to see one of them, my nephew Sean. She died the day before his first birthday with photos of him on the nightstand next to her hospital bed. That little baby gave her so much joy in her last year of life.
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