By Michael Bowman, American Red Cross
He’s only three years old. But Andrew Whittenton’s story is already inspiring others to move mountains.
Andrew’s life has been marked by serious health challenges. “He was supposed to be completely healthy, nothing seriously wrong. No problems with him during my pregnancy,” said Andrew’s mother, Miranda. But early one morning, everything changed.
“I woke up at 5 AM and was having a baby at 25 weeks,” said Miranda. Following a brief stay at the local hospital in Forrest City, Arkansas, Andrew was airlifted to a children’s hospital where he received intensive care. Andrew spent eight months in the hospital’s ICU. During his time there, Andrew required several life-saving blood transfusions. “He would have an extremely bad day,” Miranda recalled. “And we would know quickly. Okay, it's time for him to receive more blood.”
Andrew’s time in the hospital caused his parents to reflect on the fragility of life and the importance of having a blood supply available for life’s unexpected moments.
“In the midst of day-to-day life, traumatic life events can happen so fast, and it could happen to anyone,” Miranda shared. “It might be someone close to you and your family. Giving blood is very important to prepare for that. Just taking a little time out of your day to give blood can impact not only kids like Andrew, but also impact you or your family members.”
Andrew has spent half of his young life in the hospital. He lives with cerebral palsy and complex medical needs, using a wheelchair, breathing through a tracheostomy, and receiving nutrition through a feeding tube. Through it all, his story has become a source of inspiration for his church family, the Forrest City community, and families with special needs children.
Miranda Whittenton leads a ministry in her church that focuses on families of children with special needs. In addition, she created a social media site, Andrew Strong, that shares Andrew’s story and encourages families with special needs children.
“I would give Andrew updates to everyone following his story and became passionate about sharing what it looks like to be a special needs family,” said Miranda. “We cling to the scripture, Matthew 17:20, where Jesus speaks about having the faith of a mustard seed, God allows mountains to move. And I think about the teeny-tiny baby, Andrew, and how far he's come, and how he really is a testimony of a mountain that God moved within our lives to give us that faith and strength in God to push forward.”
Andrew’s story has forged relationships between families with special needs children who offer prayer, help each other with medical supplies, and encourage one another. His story has also motivated people into action through blood donations. To help celebrate Andrew’s birthday, his church is organizing a blood drive in his honor.
“I believe it makes an impact when sharing with someone that Andrew had to be given blood,” said Miranda. “I think it changes people's outlook because we go day to day with our daily activities, and we don't take time to stop and think who has actually been given blood. Knowing that someone like Andrew has been helped through these donations, can change their perspective. Having that connection with an individual in their community helps. Knowing if they donate blood, they are impacting others similar to Andrew.”
The impact of Andrew’s story is immeasurable within his community and to other families with special needs children. But his story of inspiration and hope would not have been possible without the blood he received during those critical early days of his life.
“He's a living miracle. I believe that Andrew receiving blood had a very big impact on why he's alive today,” Miranda shared. “Starting his life out so fragile, donated blood played a huge role in giving him a quality of life that has such great value. A life that can inspire others to find strength and to press on through hard situations like he faces daily.”
Without those generous blood donors, Andrew’s story would not be possible. Thank you to all the blood donors who helped Andrew tell his story and to those whose inspirational stories have yet to be told.
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