We haven't let the doctors put him on a ventilator (other than during surgeries). We decided to leave it up to Zion and God. God has let Zion stay here with us for 3 years and for this we are grateful.

We are praying for and looking forward to several more healthy and happy years, if this is God's will. Our family is a member of SOFT and we have made several friends and met several children with trisomy. God gave us Zion to love and cherish--and we do this each and every day!!!

parents: Jamie and Kristie Lint;
sisters: Mariah and Olivia Lint, 
Richlands, Virginia

Kristie Lint lintsx5@verizon.net

 
The Lint Family 2006 SOFT conference in  Chicago

9-8-06
Hey. Just another update about Zion. He took a bad turn last night and his right lung collapsed. Also he now has pneumonia. He is on a vent, but only on C-Pap. They were able to take care of the collapsed lung right away, and are planning on taking him off the vent tomorrow. He is on 2 antibiotics to try to clear the pneumonia. His belly still won't work. They haven't been able to feed him yet. He still has no bowel sounds. He is very sore, but was smiling and playing this morning. They took him off the morphine this morning and started a different kind of pain medicine, hoping that will take care of some of the vomiting. I will try to keep you posted. Maybe you can pass along my messages. Jamie was supposed to leave today to go back to work, but with Zion getting worse, he called and they told him to stay. Thank God. I can't imagine going through this without him here. Keep Zion in your prayers. The RM House said that it is okay if anyone wants to send emails to us here. I can check daily. Just title them Zion Lint. I guess I am hungry for communication with everyone, as we haven't been able to for so long with the computer being down.
Kristie Lint

Previous Forwarded Post for Zion...Prayer Request-
 I am at the Ronald McDonald House and their computer won't let me access my account to check my email. I just wondered if you could let everyone know that Zion has been in the hospital now for 9 days. Probably will be there for another 4 or 5 more days.  It all started with his g-tube needed to be removed to let some infection around the stoma heal. We were supposed to stay for 3 days. They removed the g-tube and put in a central line. The plan was to put the g-tube back in after 3days, but they couldn't get the site to heal. So yesterday, they took him to the OR and closed it up and made a new incision right below and put in a peg tube, which will later be converted to a MIC-KEY. However, after being fed TPN through a central line for over a week, now every time they try to put anything (pedialyte or pediasure) through the tube, he pukes. So we can't feed him and don't know when we will be able to. Also, our computer is down again and we haven't had a chance to get it fixed, and after this hospital stay and Jamie making several trips back and forth, God only knows when we will have the money to get it repaired. The hospital is about 3 hours one way. Jamie has been bringing the girls up between work and school. Its been pretty tough. I miss them so bad, but Zion really needs to be here now. I refuse to leave him when he is in the hospital, so Jamie and I have been staying in his room day and night. Jamie is over there with him now and Olivia and I are at the RM House for a little while. Mariah can't come till tomorrow due to school. Jamie is leaving tomorrow to go back--he has to work the weekend. My parents are bringing Mariah up tomorrow after school and they (and the girls) will be leaving Saturday. Anyway, I figured everyone might wonder why they haven't heard from us. I could remember your address (I hope), and maybe you could let everyone know. The RMH was kind enough to let me use their internet for a few minutes to send a message. Will send more later when I can. Please keep Zion in your prayers.

Love,
Kristie
 

Update 3-3-2005 Hello to all of you. Thought I would get a message in while ALL THREE kids are napping at the SAME TIME!!! Things here are still rough, but we are surviving. Zion is still having a hard time breathing after all the smoke, but he doing a little better. We are still digging through all the mess at the old place to see what can be saved, and so far we have been able to clean lots of stuff and keep it. Unfortunately not all of it can be saved. We've had to pitch some stuff too. But the good out of all this is that a lady from the American Red Cross contacted us about a week ago. She asked us to fill out an application for the new Habitat for Humanity house that is being built here in town this summer. I'm not sure if all of you are familiar with what that is. There is a group of people here (I think they are from area churches)  that build homes for people who need them. The rule is you pay back the loan, but it is interest-free and you decide the payments and how many years you wish to take to pay it back. Each home is built to suit the family's need. For instance they can be made handicapped accessible. The lady said that the people over the committee heard about our fire and knew that Jamie is a full-time student now, so they wanted to consider us. I filled out the application and explained why our new home is not suitable for Zion at all. It is 2-story and all the bedrooms are upstairs. When I am downstairs, I cannot hear him at all.

He is requiring oxygen a lot right now since the fire and it is set up in his room so I can't bring him downstairs every time I go. Also, there is a front porch with steps so we can barely get the wheelchair inside. It is a horrible place for him. But we haven't been able to find another place that is big enough for all of us that is on one level unless we increase our rent a lot. She called back and said that they had reviewed our application and that it looked very hopeful for us. If we are approved, it will be a 4-bedroom home with 2 bathrooms, a front porch, a back porch with a ramp for Zion and a wide hallway for the wheelchair. You also get the land deeded to you. They usually all have a pretty good yard. I could fence it in and my kids would have a place to go out and play. We had a big yard at the other place, but it is all road here. There is nowhere for them to go out and Zion loves it outside. Anyway, it will be built this summer. PLEASE pray that we get this. I have a lot of people putting in good words for us and a LOT of people praying about it. I would love to get it, but if there is a family out there that needs it worse than I do,
then I want them to get it.

Well I guess I need to go take advantage of all this FREE TIME I have right now before one of them gets up. Thanks to all of you for the prayers and kind words. It has been such a rough time for us, but there are so many of you out there that cheer up a bad day with your caring thoughts. May God bless each of you,

Kristie Lint - Mommy to Zion T13 (3) Mariah (5) and Olivia (1) Wife to Jamie--the best hubby ever

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Update 2-27-05 Hi everyone. They say when it rains it pours. For us, it is storming. We lost our home in a fire on Valentine's Day. We lived in a complex, and the lady above us caught her house on fire with a candle (or say that is what the fire report says..not sure I believe it). I heard her window break out and I
went outside to see what the crash was. Mariah was watching a cartoon and Zion and Olivia were in bed. It was about 11:00pm. I could see the flames inside her house and I realized that I had very little time to rescue my kids. Jamie was at work. I ran in and called 911 and then got Zion out of the house. One of his night nurses lived 2 doors down, so I ran to her door and barged in and threw Zion in her arms. I ran back in and got the girls out, and by then it was already filling up with smoke. It is the most horrible experience I can imagine. Watching your home burn knowing everything you ever worked for is in there. I remember saying to one lady about how I wouldn't have anything and
how do you move on when you don't have anything. She looked at me and said "I can't believe you could say that. You have 3 beautiful children that aren't even hurt." I knew then that I was very fortunate. Had I been 5 minutes later, it could have been too late. No one died in the fire and only one lady was seriously burned. We stood outside in the cold for hours breathing the heavy smoke and freezing our rears off. I didn't have time to grab a coat or blanket for any of us. So now the news gets worse. Olivia ended up with an upper respiratory infection and is on antibiotics, and Zion has pneumonia. He is also on antibiotics. He is having a hard time breathing and is requiring oxygen
and taking breathing treatments. They let us bring him home since we have oxygen here, but I still think maybe he needs to be hospitalized. We had to spend a week with my parents (HELP) and we have now moved into a townhouse that we hate. It is 2nd - story and the bedrooms are upstairs. I can't stand Zion being upstairs and me downstairs. We went form a 4 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom house and it is so crowded. We don't have a yard here and my kids had a swing set and a sandbox and every outside toy known. We had to put them in storage. Hopefully we can move this summer. It has been so emotional. We were able to save a lot of stuff--they got the fire out fast. But we are still rummaging through it all. Zion's room got flooded when they sprayed, so he lost about everything. Some of his pictures were ruined. It is very hard to see them. His bed fell apart and his chest of drawers were gone. We were able to save some of his clothes. We have to wash all the clothes in vinegar to get the smell out. Our bedroom got some damage, but the girls' room didn't get any damage. Everything that can be saved has to be cleaned with bleach before it can be brought around the kids. It is taking us a long time. They condemned the entire building and there were 24 people living there. I had worked so hard at that place. We had painted and put up wallpaper and lots of stuff. This place is not the colors or anything that I like, so it doesn't feel like home yet. We have gotten a lot of help from Social Services and local churches.  People have given us furniture and clothes, toys, money, etc. God has taken care of us. But not sure why it all had to happen, especially right here at birthday time. Got to go for now.

Kristie Lint
Mommy to Mariah (5) ZionT13 (3) and Olivia (1) and wife to Jamie