True Character is defined during our most challenging times...
"...He was inclusive, positive, funny and respectful in an incredible and improbable way considering all of the suffering he was unfairly forced to endure through his health... He had a knack of brightening someone's day with only a few words. I will always appreciate that and remember to take his positivity with me; as life can easily trend towards complaining, I think of him and remind myself to embody the energy he always imparted with every interaction. Colin, I am happy to have met you and I hope you are at peace. Know that those that met you will always be better for it."
The Hiriak Family's Thoughts
We have received so many wonderful messages about Colin since his passing and there has been one consistent theme. People are inspired by the fact that even during the darkest of times, during the hardest of fights, during the greatest of pain, and yes, even during the final months when he had to face the reality that the cancer was going to beat him, Colin demonstrated undying courage and dignity and constantly focused on the needs of others before his own with a positivity that could almost not be understood. We share in this inspiration and desperately miss his ability to easily brighten our days. But we are not surprised because Colin was a fighter from the beginning and always lived to the mantra, "For Others."
The Beginning
Colin began his fight at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston where he was born 16 weeks premature. No one expected Colin to live. As a matter of fact, the last comment the physician made to our family before delivering Colin was, "I'm sorry." Colin weighted 1 pound 5 ounces and measured 1/4 inch longer than a Barbie doll at birth.
The First Four Months
Colin developed necrotizing enterocolitis on day 8 and perforated his bowel. We, as his parents were told to rush to the hospital because Colin would probably not survive the surgery required to manage the damage. Not only did he survive the surgery, he survived seven weeks on a ventilator, a brain bleed, two bouts of sepsis, meningitis, two surgeries, including one around his heart, growth problems, eye issues, apnea, and a final, nearly eight-hour operation to reverse the ostomy placed when he originally perforated his bowel. All done while weighing less than four pounds.
The First Sign He Was Really Different
Colin was finally healthy enough to come home the Saturday before the Super Bowl, 1996 - more than 130 days having been spent in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). His dad, being curious, only had one question for the doctor before they departed, "Why did he make it? Why did my son make it when some healthier infants in the NICU clearly did not? What made the difference?" The physician didn't hesitate with his response, "Why did he make it? Because he wanted to."
