Amid the joy of bringing her newborn daughter home from the hospital, a mom from Northeast Ohio fell gravely ill. In a life-saving surgery, she lost her uterus and the chance to give birth to more children. However, her faith in God led her to find another route: she became a foster mom, and her dream of having a bigger family came true.
Lisa Robertson of Hartville, married her husband, JJ, in 2011 after a “whirlwind romance.” They were shocked and excited to become pregnant with their first child, a girl, just six weeks later.
‘Something Was Seriously Wrong’
Lisa had always dreamed of being a mom and had a textbook pregnancy. But four days after bringing baby Avery home, her health plummeted.
Lisa told The Epoch Times: “I was getting fevers. I remember telling my mom that I was so sore, even my hair hurt ... it was my first baby, I wasn’t sure what to expect with recovery and how I was supposed to feel.”
That night was really tough for Lisa as Avery was very unsettled.
When JJ woke up the next day to go back to work, Lisa told him that she just needed to get some sleep and wouldn’t be able to be all alone with the baby. Thus, JJ called his mother to look after Avery while Lisa got some sleep.
“I probably slept until lunchtime, and as soon as I opened my eyes and tried to get out of bed, I knew something was seriously wrong,” she said. “My mother-in-law had a friend come over to stay with my daughter, and she drove me to the hospital.”
When Lisa was admitted to the hospital her blood pressure was 60/40. She was soon hooked up to wires and monitors and woke in the middle of the night to a flurry of activity as she was being moved to the ICU.
Lisa was diagnosed with group A strep and postpartum septic shock from an unknown origin. It had already turned into necrotizing fasciitis in her uterus. If left untreated, the rare condition—more common in countries with poor hygiene conditions in hospitals—could have been fatal.
Apart from the septic shock, Lisa also had a kidney infection, pneumonia, and fluid in the lungs.
A week into her hospital stay, the sepsis cleared up. She was still suffering from a high fever, however, so her infectious disease doctor requested a new CT scan.
During this time her mother was by her side; however, Lisa begged them to wait for her husband—who works long hours for his own concrete construction company—to come.
Reality Sets In
Lisa woke up after her surgery feeling “loopy from all the medicine.”Lighthearted, JJ helped keep the mood bright, but when Lisa saw the 27 staples across her belly, reality set in. She was 26 years old and would never bear children again.
Upon returning home, Lisa was on a PICC line (peripherally inserted central catheter line) and antibiotics, so she needed help from nurses and family to take care of her baby girl. Six weeks later, her doctor wrote a letter to the family, assuring them that Lisa was finally ready to be left alone overnight with Avery.
However, the full impact of her life-changing surgery hit home six months later after she returned to work as a graphic designer.
“I was diagnosed with PTSD,” she said. “I was experiencing a lot of anxiety being back at work, being away from [Avery] ... I carried guilt from what everybody else was feeling, how worried my parents must have been, how scared my husband was, everything I put them through while I did this, not that it was my fault.”
During this time, Lisa also researched more about necrotizing fasciitis and found out that her illness had a mortality rate of 75 percent. Those that survived usually lost their limbs, but for Lisa, only her skin had peeled.
Lisa’s surgeon recommended she see a counselor, which she did for the next ten months. While this benefitted her a lot, she also believes that God revealed Himself amid her pain.
Reconsidering the Path
In November 2014, Lisa and JJ harvested three viable embryos and tried them all with a gestational surrogate, but none survived. Lisa remembers the heartbreaking news as her “point of surrender.”Lisa said: “I remember sitting in church that Sunday and our pastor preached a sermon on the topic: ‘Following the Savior – Are you willing to reconsider the mission and direction of your life?'” He talked about foster care, and it was just one of these moments where you feel like they’re speaking directly to you.”
Neither Lisa nor JJ had considered fostering before, but it was like a light switched on for them. They earned their fostering license in November 2015 and have been foster parents for seven years. During this time, they have provided short-term respite care for many children, and long-term care for seven children.
Of those seven, they have adopted two biological brothers.
Lisa said: “We have a wonderful relationship with our sons’ biological mom ... our adopted sons have other siblings out there that we get to see, that is with another adoptive family, and we have a great relationship with them.”
Lisa, who works with local Ohio nonprofits that impact foster care, has been open with curious Avery, now 10, about the sickness that nearly took her life.
Foster care has brought so much love into their lives, but Lisa believes that the system is “broken.”
‘It’s Humbling’
The foster care crisis—so many children, not enough families—is nationwide, Lisa said, and 60 to 80 percent of foster families quit within the first year owing to a lack of support. She encourages anyone who empathizes to reach out to their local fostering agency, even if they don’t plan on hosting children themselves.“Stepping in to support a foster family and your community could make a huge difference,” Lisa said. “It’s humbling, really, to get to be a part of these stories ... to step in and care for them when there’s really nobody else that can.”
