Parker’s Miracle: He has an arm and he’s using it

Parker Proud was born on April 15, 2011. When his father saw him for the first time, he looked like any other healthy newborn.

“At first he looked normal because babies are purple when they are born. It was when the nurses were washing him off that all of the skin on his arm—from his wrist to his elbow—came off,” says Parker’s mother, Stephanie Proud. “My husband said they looked sick because they didn’t know what happened. Nobody knew why or what the problem was.”

Within an hour after his birth at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Parker was LifeFlighted to Primary Children’s Medical Center. It was there that Stephanie, was told her child had suffered a blood clot in his right brachial artery and that it had cut off all of the blood flow to his right arm—which was now essentially dead.

“We were told his arm would have to be amputated,” Stephanie says, “and that there was really nothing they could do. And that if they were able to save his shoulder it would be a miracle.”

Parker was put on blood thinners and was admitted to the NICU to await his amputation. His parents waited along with him wondering what kind of future their child would face with only one arm.

A couple of days later, his fingertips started to turn pink. The doctors and surgeons decided to wait a couple more days to see what would happen. Eventually Parker’s hand started to turn pink. His doctors decided to wait a little longer. He was in the NICU for 27 days as his lifeless limb continued to turn from black to pink. Parker and his parents were sent home with the plan to watch his arm and see if it would continue healing on its own.

At the time Parker was discharged, he could just move his shoulder a little bit. Now, at 19 months old, Parker’s arm has continued to heal and he has full movement in both his shoulder and elbow and is learning how to use his fingers.

“Last week, he was able to pick up some marbles,” Stephanie says. “He is a miracle to us.

For the past three months, The Prouds have been going to Primary Children’s outpatient physical therapy clinic in Taylorsville for occupational therapy once a week. At the rate Parker is progressing, his therapists anticipate he will be able to use his hand just like any other child.

“The miracle is that Parker has an arm and he’s using it. He wasn’t supposed to,” Stephanie says. “It’s a miracle that everybody involved, doctors, surgeons, nurses, all of us said, ‘Let’s just wait. Let’s not make any decisions yet.’ And thank goodness we did. He’s doing really well.”