THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996 TAG: 9601190734
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
The tears flowed freely at first for Chris Phelps as his infant daughter fought for her life in a Canadian hospital. Lately, though, he just hasn't been able to weep.
``I ran out of tears. I couldn't cry anymore,'' said the second-year defenseman for the Hampton Roads Admirals. ``You just get dried up and you get numb and there's nothing left.''
Phelps, a 21-year-old Michigan native, expected good news when he left the Admirals on Dec. 20 to be with his pregnant wife, Dawn, in Ottawa, Ontario. Dawn, whom he met playing while junior hockey two years ago, gave birth the next day to a 7-pound, 10-ounce girl. Named Calah minutes after birth, she appeared strong and healthy.
``She's the cutest thing. You look at her and wonder how anything can be wrong,'' Phelps said.
But much was wrong. Doctors determined almost immediately that Calah's heart wasn't functioning properly.
Doctors said she would need several operations, including one immediately. Her chances for survival? Maybe 50 percent, maybe a little better, they said.
``They did a catheterization to show what was wrong,'' Phelps said. ``Basically, they had to reconstruct the heart.''
Nearly four weeks later, young Calah appears to have survived the first round of surgery. She's still in intensive care, but off a respirator and is being weaned off the many medications doctors were forced to pump into her.
``She got the shakes so bad that her doctors thought she was having seizures,'' Phelps said. ``But it was withdrawal from the medication.
``It's been so hard to watch her go through all of this.''
Yet both Phelps and his wife haven't suffered alone. They are born-again Christians who relied on the help of Dawn's church, Ottawa's New Life Pentecostal Center; her father, a deacon in the Catholic Church; their families and their faith.
``The doctors were not optimistic, but we just prayed and prayed and prayed,'' Phelps said. ``We knew we had to do whatever we could do, and that was the surgery. The rest was up to God. That's what God was telling us throughout the whole thing. You do what you can and I'll take care of the rest.''
The prayers, including many from Phelps' teammates, have been answered, he said.
At first, doctors thought they'd have to replace an aorta with an artificial tube. It was the most dangerous portion of the operation.
``The tests showed it was one-third the size'' it should have been, Phelps said. ``But when they went in there for the surgery, it was big enough.
``It was just a miracle. They couldn't begin to explain it. During the catheterization they had dye pumping in the heart and you could see it wasn't big enough.''
A week after the operation Calah's heart became infected, not an unusual occurrence after such surgery. The incision on her chest was left open because her heart had swollen so much from the surgery that it needed room to pump.
``We prayed again, and the next day, the infection was gone,'' Phelps said. ``There have been a lot of miracles the doctors can't explain.''
With Calah improving, Phelps decided last week he could return to Norfolk. He has played in four games and had four assists.
``Given what he's gone through, he's played great,'' said defenseman Bob Woods. ``He's been through a lot.''
Including two bouts with the flu that cost Phelps 15 pounds, and twice landed him in bed.
Phelps returned to a pleasant surprise - in spite of his absence, he was named an ECHL All-Star for the second year in a row.
``It's something I don't think I deserved having been gone that long,'' he said. ``But I'll take it.''
Saying goodbye to his wife at the airport ``was the hardest thing I've ever had to do,'' said Phelps.
``My first day away was hard on Dawn. But as the baby has improved, she has improved. It's been bittersweet coming back. I'm happy to be here, but I can't stop thinking about them. I think about them all the time.
``This has been harder on Dawn than it's been on me. I can't imagine having a baby, carrying it for nine months and getting so attached to it, and when she's born, you can't even hold her. You can't take her home.
``She's only held her four times. I can't imagine the empty feeling she has. That's something men can never understand, I guess. I have a whole new respect for women and what they go through.
``They're tough. They don't know how tough they are.''
Phelps and family will need to be tough. Ahead are more operations, there are no guarantees Calah hasn't suffered brain damage and the bonding between mother and daughter that usually takes place in the days immediately after birth will happen more than a month late.
``We're not worried about all that,'' Phelps said. ``After what we've been through, we feel like there's nothing God can't do.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
``There have been a lot of miracles the doctors can't explain,''
says Phelps of young Calah's improvement.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY by CNB