Real Miracles, Healing Stories

The Reason Why: The Tabitha Schofield Story

Worlds Apart It’s 2006, and Tabitha is ten-months-old. She sits in an alley in Port-au-Prince, Haiti with her three-year-old brother Teancum. They’re hiding from the dogs who roam the filthy streets, as their mother scrounges for food. But the lives of the two starving children are about change. Both will be blessed with a life envied by all other Haitian kids. But first, Tabitha must battle for her life and lose a great deal in the process. So why is she so happy?

Far from the lawless streets of Haiti, the Schofield family lives comfortably in Boise, Idaho. After ten years of marriage, Steven and Diane have three healthy, happy and extremely active children: Heidi (8), Steven (7) and Esther (4). As fulfilled as they are with their beautiful family, Steven and Diane are drawn to the idea of sharing their blessings – and they’ve made the decision to adopt another child. They know what they want, a healthy orphan boy. Diane remembers all the work that comes with a baby and she’d rather avoid all that - no diapers, no strollers and no parents to complicate things.

Back in Haiti, Tabitha’s mother fears for her children’s survival. Giving her two toddlers to an orphanage may be their only chance at life. The difficult decision has been made and Teancum and Tabitha joined nearly 200 other children waiting for a family to want them.

The Right Choice
In January of ‘06, Diane and Steven contacted an adoption agency. A friend told them a compelling story about the Foyer de Sion Orphanage in Port-au-Prince which piqued their interest. They knew a foreign adoption would be a little more complex, but how bad could it be? What they would face would be much more than complexity.

At some point during the thought process the couple made another decision; they needed two children, not one. A child of a different race might have a difficult time adjusting to a new family who all looked so different. They felt it better for the child to have a sibling, someone like them. A brother and sister would be just right.

In March of ’06, they received photos of Teancum and Tabitha. “I felt they were ours from the moment I saw their picture,” recalled Diane. In July they flew to Haiti to meet the kids. For a week they lived in a hotel with the two Haitian children. Tabitha was 14 months and her older brother was almost four. Both were malnourished, which had turned Tabitha’s hair blonde, and Tabitha had a cold, but otherwise the kids seemed healthy. Tabitha was not yet walking and seemed only a little behind in development. Teancum was running around and laughing, as you would expect a young boy to do. Their visit validated what they had felt for some time - these were their children.

A Grave Error
“It was hard handing them back to the orphanage,” admits Diane. But the adoption process, which involved two countries, could take a year, so the couple returned to Idaho, eager for the next year to pass.

Barely a month had elapsed before an unexpected call came from Foyer de Sion. Tabitha’s cold had become pneumonia and she was in the St. Francois de Sales Hospital in Port-au-Prince. Her hospital room was 10’x10’, the size of a small kitchen in the US. Against three walls cribs were stacked three-high, with two infants per crib. Later, Diane would remark, “It looked like and smelled like an animal shelter.”

Three days would pass before the call came with news Tabitha was improving and would likely go home in a week. They anticipate the next call telling them Tabitha was back in the orphanage, but when the call came the message was quite different.

On the day Tabitha was to leave St. Francois de Sales Hospital, TB vaccinations were administered to everyone on her hospital floor. All the patients on that floor were adults except for those in Tabitha’s room, but the infants were given the same adult dosage – 200 times the dosage for an infant. A number of them died immediately from the overdose. Tabitha was alive, but in a coma - she wasn’t expected to live.

The orphanage told the Schofields they could cancel their plans to take Tabitha. More photos would be sent so another child could be selected. They wouldn’t even lose any money. “There was no earthly reason to take Tabitha,” Diane stated. “…except that she was our daughter. If our oldest child was in an accident and crippled we wouldn’t quit being her parents. And Tabitha had been ours since we first saw her picture.”

I Get It
After a few days, all the other overdosed infants had died. Tabitha was still in a coma and they believed her liver had failed. Diane spoke through a translator as she tried to get an actual prognosis. The information from the Haitian hospital was confusing at best. The couple knew what they needed to do; Diane elected to go see for herself if they still had a daughter. If Tabitha was alive her best chance of survival would be in the US. They would apply for a medical visa and get her out of Haiti as soon as possible.

On the flight to Haiti Diane prayed, “Let her live, let me hold her again.” When Diane arrived at the hospital and saw the horrific state of Tabitha’s frail body, and the suffering she must be experiencing, her first thoughts were, “Okay God, I get it. You can let her go.”

Diane looked down at the cramped little crib. Tabitha’s filthy skeletal body was covered in bed sores and her arms were stiff and protruding “zombie-like.” Then another thought came to her, “If she wants to stay, I’ll take care of her.” Diane called Steven that night and they agreed. If Tabitha survived while they worked to get the necessary travel documents, she would go home with Diane.

It took nearly a month, but on October 3rd, 2006, Tabitha and mother returned to the US. After a brief stop at a Salt Lake City hospital, they traveled on to Boise where the family was waiting. “We had a beautiful, skinny baby who was stiff and in pain…but she was alive,” said the grateful mother.

A Host of Problems
After weeks in a coma, Tabitha is now only semi-comatose as she arrives in Boise. Her eyes were open, but rolled back in her head. Unable to suckle a bottle, a feeding tube was needed to keep her alive. And her arms and legs were stiff, not flexible like they should be. Steven and Diane thought this stiffness was something she would outgrow with help of therapy.

The stiffness in the child’s limbs was a condition called spasticity, which in Tabitha’s case had resulted from brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen following her drug overdose. The malfunctioning brain was sending conflicting commands to different muscle groups. The damage to Tabitha’s brain was catastrophic and irreversible. This she would not outgrow.

Tabitha was admitted to a Boise hospital where she remained for four days. The Haitian diagnosis of liver failure was wrong. Tests from the US hospital indicated Tabitha had AIDS, possibly the final stages of that disease. Insisting upon a more reliable second test, Diane and Steven were relieved to learn the AIDS diagnosis was also incorrect. But there was still a great deal wrong with the 18 month old child. Tabitha had hepatitis-A, oral thrush, rectal bleeding, CMV (a virus infection), CVI (cortical visual impairment), and severe bed sores, some as large as silver dollars. The spasticity complicated everything with arms and legs in locked positions.

The doctors did not agree on the prognosis. One thought it possible that Tabitha would fully recover and become a normal 18-month-old child, while another doctor said they would be lucky if their daughter lived another three months. “You can guess whose opinion we went with,” remarked Diane.

The three month prediction proved inaccurate as springtime 2007 rolled around. Tabitha was showing positive signs. She was requesting food, her wounds were healing, she was gaining weight, her hair was growing dark again, and she was smiling. Tabitha could even sit with the family in her Bumbo chair. After 7 months of being loved, and having food, Tabitha gained 20 lbs and grew 5 inches.

Hurricanes and Balloons
Meanwhile, Teancum was still in Haiti waiting for the Haitian portion of the adoption to finalize. In the fall of 2007 that time came. But if Tabitha’s adoption was to be finalized she must return to Haiti. Once again, mother and daughter hopped on a plane.

The final process in Haiti was to take only a few days. But Diane soon learned that adopting a handicapped child requires more documents, more approvals and a lot more time. Another month would pass as she worked the process. In the meantime another complication arose, Hurricane Noel, the deadliest Atlantic Hurricane in 2007. Ensuing flooding and looting kept Diane, Teancum and Tabitha holed up in their hotel for days without adequate food or water.

Back in Idaho, Steven was trying to keep a normal life going for their other three children while struggling with the US side of the bureaucracy. Adopting a handicapped child from a foreign country is not for the uncommitted.

Now able to leave her hotel, Diane found a taxi to take her to the US Embassy. It was a welcome shock to learn she was cleared to leave Haiti with her newly adopted children. In a rush to catch the last plane of the day, Diane stuffed her two children into a taxi and sped to the airport. Traffic and crowds made it improbable they would make the flight. The resourceful taxi driver took to the sidewalks, driving around the traffic jams and buying them the precious minutes needed to board the plane.

The three travelers arrived in Miami with scabies and pink eye, but without hotel reservations or connecting flights. Diane didn’t care; she was thrilled to be back in the US. On November 11, 2007, Diane, Teancum and Tabitha were welcomed back to Idaho by friends, balloons, and crying children. The entire family was together for the first time.

Stars on the Horizon
Tabitha could finally return to her physical therapy. She had gone over a month without therapy and her spasticity had worsened. The following May, Diane switched Tabitha’s therapy to the pediatric Jumpstart Program with Saint Alphonsus Rehabilitation Services (STARS) in Meridian.

The parents had also became discontent with Tabitha’s medical care and looked for an alternative. Diane interviewed a couple of area doctors and was discouraged with the prevailing attitude of reluctance. “There was an attitude of ‘Why did you adopt a child like this?’” Diane recalled. “I was told by one doctor that I could put her in a home. In our mind she had been our daughter for two years. How could we do that?”

A friend had told Diane and Steven about the Saint Alphonsus Foundation Project Haiti, which provides medical supplies and health care to orphans in Haiti. That struck a familiar chord with them. They had been thrilled with the staff at STARS, so they called the Saint Alphonsus Medical Group in Eagle and pediatrician Dr. Stacey Townsend, MD.

Diane called Dr. Townsend’s office and started to explain Tabitha’s circumstances. Without hesitation Tabitha was instantly scheduled. Their eager attitude surprised Diane. On their introductory visit, Diane witnessed something that had often been lacking in some of Tabitha’s previous care providers, care. Dr. Townsend’s office staff welcomed Tabitha with comforting words and a reassuring touch. Later that day Diane transferred the care of all her other children to Dr. Townsend.

Each Day a Gift
During the first visit, Dr. Townsend immediately uncovered a couple of previously undiagnosed problems with Tabitha, a heart murmur and a dislocated hip. She referred Tabitha to Jeffrey Shilt, MD, Pediatric Orthopaedic Medical Director at Saint Alphonsus and Vic Kadyan, MD, Physiatrist with Boise Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. After Dr. Shilt performed surgery on Tabitha’s hip, she was placed in a cast, which was later replaced with a brace. Tabitha’s spasticity was now twisting her frame so severely the rivets began popping from the brace.

Fortunately for Tabitha, Dr. Shilt was spearheading the formation of the Idaho Spasticity Program at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. The interdisciplinary program was the first of its kind in Idaho to offer comprehensive care for patients suffering from spasticity. Along with the surgical skills of Dr. Shilt, the program includes physiatrist Dr. Kadyan, who manages the rehabilitation with specialized support from Terri Cron, RN, and Taryn Williams, PT.

Dr. Shilt felt Tabitha might be a candidate for a baclofen pump, a surgically implanted device to deliver medication at required intervals. This delivery process can be the most effective form of treatment in cases of severe spasticity. After a test to determine Tabitha’s suitability for the procedure, the surgery was performed.

Within three weeks following the surgery, Tabitha showed significant improvement. “All of a sudden we have a child who’s comfortable and laughing.” With teary eyes and a quivering voice Diane said, “We have our daughter back.”

While the quality of Tabitha’s life is improving her medical condition remains serious. Because of this reality, the family knows “each day is a gift.” They even had a plaque made with those words as reminder. “We know her heart can turn off any time – we’re amazed she’s still alive,” Diane reluctantly admitted.

The Broken Baby
The Schofields believed they were adopting a healthy child, but ended up with a “lifetime infant” – precisely what they didn’t want. But you won’t hear Diane or Steven talk about “obligation” or “duty” when speaking of Tabitha. To them, “Tabitha has been a gift.”

“The other kids are in dance and in little league and play the piano,” Diane says. “And we appreciate all of that more because of Tabitha.” Diane continued, “She’ll never go skiing with us, or float the river, but she can enjoy going to the zoo and the movies…and snuggling with us.”

“She’s also had an amazing affect on many people outside of the family,” said Diane. “So many people tell me she’s touched them. Now, whenever someone tells me she’s touched their life, I write it down. I’m saving it for her funeral.” A family friend even refers to Tabitha as “the broken baby who fixes people.”

Expectations
As every parent has expectations for their child, Steven and Diane have expectations for Tabitha. “Our expectations are for her to be comfortable, to know that she’s loved, and know who loves her,” reflects Diane. “And when we look at Tabitha we see a child who does know she’s loved. She’s knows when she’s home and not at home. When Steven gets home from work and she hears his voice, she smiles because she knows he’ll come and kiss her. She smiles when she hears her sister Esther’s voice, because she knows Esther will come and rub noses with her. She knows her family loves her.”

Esther, now 7, has a special prayer for Tabitha. She prays that when Tabitha goes to heaven “We’ll be happy for her when she’s in Heaven – and that she’ll be able to dance.” Tabitha’s 10-year-old brother Steven came to Diane one day, and with tears in his eyes he said, “I know why Tabitha is always happy.”

“Why is that?” asked Diane.

“Because she has us.” It has been said that adoption is not about finding children for families, but rather finding families for children. In this case, they found each other.

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