Saving Thanksgiving and Baby Desmond

“I used to think that Thanksgiving was my favorite time of year,” Erin Ronayne said. “But that Thanksgiving, that was different.”

November 18, 2020, Erin Ronayne was resting with her twin sons after a difficult delivery and thinking about their upcoming Thanksgiving. That was until one of the twins, Desmond, suddenly felt icy to the touch, and nothing Erin did could warm him up.

“I was super discouraged,” Erin said. “‘This is not how this is supposed to be going. We already went through some hard stuff a few days ago. Why are we being put through another trial so soon?’ Reality sinking in that I have no control. I am not in control here and this is way beyond anything I can fix, anything that I can do. So, I just felt completely inadequate, very scared. That was just the beginning.” 

Erin and her husband, Kevin, took Desmond to an urgent care clinic, but after a brief assessment they were told to rush him to the ER. There, the room exploded with activity as Desmond’s organs inexplicably started failing.

“They're over there doing CPR and pushing on his chest, and I was just weeping and lost in my own world,” Erin said. “We have a lot of nurses and people coming in and saying things that we're just not understanding. I’m fighting all these feelings, and of course I have Satan trying to convince me that, ‘You’re not going to get out of this. Something you deserve, something else bad is happening.’ I'm just so frustrated at this point.”

At the height of the chaos, Kevin was forced to leave with the other twin, Finnegan, and his 4-year-old sister, Shay, as COVID-19 protocols were in place at the hospital. Erin was left alone, her newborn son dying in the other room.

“I felt like everything under my feet was gone, there was nothing connecting me to the planet anymore,” Erin said. “‘You are now being forced to go on this journey that you don't want to go on.’ Little did I know I was going to start taking that big leap of faith. That's when I finally was like, ‘Okay, I can't just sit here and pray by myself, I need a large number of people praying that my baby comes home.’”

She immediately picked up her phone to call family, friends, anyone she could think of to ask them to pray for Desmond. She believed this was the only hope for saving her son.

Erin said, “I felt like God just kind of came in and was like, ‘All right, here's what we're going to do. You're okay, I'm going to hug you. I'm going to protect you. I got my wings on you. You can rest in me. Whatever's going on, don't look at it. You can just feel My presence, My comfort. We got all these people praying. These are your warriors right here, you can’t see it, but they’re doing it.’ I know God has big plans for these boys, so God's not going to take one and leave the other. And that was the moment that everything was okay. And it continued to be okay, and more okay, and more okay, and more okay, until finally I didn't feel like I was being crushed by the world anymore.”

Miraculously, Desmond’s vitals began to normalize. Several hours later he was allowed to breastfeed with Erin, and then, on November 22, she was given the final word – you can take him home.

“I definitely felt like God's plan was in action,” Erin said. “I had the supernatural clarity to see it. I just knew we were going home. I was already packing my bags, counting my diapers, I was ready. The joy that I felt could not be measured by any words. Only God can produce that kind of joy in somebody's heart, because I felt like we were completely protected. I feel like this little, tiny thing and God will show up for me, show up for my family. That is amazing.”

Their family was soon reunited. The cause of Desmond’s temperature drops and subsequent organ failure was never determined, but the Ronaynes know it was only because of God’s supernatural intervention that they were able to celebrate that Thanksgiving together.

“That would be the most memorable Thanksgiving of my entire life, and I'm excited that I get to experience all of these Thanksgivings with him growing up, knowing that that's what we overcame,” Erin said with tears in her eyes. “I feel overjoyed when I get to be with my family all together as one unit and know that God took care of us, God kept us together.

I believe in the power of prayer. I want people to know that God is always there. That no matter what they're going through, no matter how dark it seems, no matter how alone they feel, that God is there in the good, the bad. He knows the whole story. He can see all of it. You're not alone. Even if you don't have people around you to support you, God will put them there. You just have to cry out and ask Him for help, pray. I could not have gone through that without Him. My family wouldn't be the family we are without Him.”