'It is the hardest thing for anyone to have to do...'
By JOE L. HUGHES II Ledger Staff Writer joe@gaffneyledger.com

Michelle Smith kisses her infant son Brandon Isaiah Church, on the forehead while the child was hospitalized at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center in January of 2005.

A lifetime's worth of pictures flood photo albums at the home of Gaffney resident Michelle Smith, chronicling special moments with family and friends through the years.

However, two of the books stick close to the local woman's heart, being part of a small collection of memories from a life taken before it truly could begin.

Smith lost her son Brandon Isaiah Church in late January of 2005 days after the child was born. The infant clung to life with assistance from a ventilator and feeding tube for five days before it was decided to discontinue life support.

"It is the hardest thing for anyone to have to do when it is time to leave your child's bedside," Smith said. "It took friends and family to pry me away from his side. Undoubtedly, that is the hardest thing I had to do."

Church's fight for survival began immediately out of the womb as his heart stopped beating. At one point, doctors at Upstate Carolina Medical Center pronounced him dead.

"After he was born, there was no crying or anything," Smith said. "I didn't get the chance to hold my child and look into his eyes for the first time. I saw him and then he was gone."

The infant's heart started beating moments later. He was eventually transferred to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center for further treatment.

Smith arrived at her son's bedside a few days later after doctors kept her at the Gaffney hospital for additional testing and observation.

Totally dependent on a feeding tube and ventilator for his survival, Church's condition worsened not long after his mother's arrival. A scan found little to no activity in the child's brain, causing the medical professionals to pronounce him brain dead.

"(Doctors) told us they had done all they could do," Smith said. "The only decision was whether to take him off the ventilator or not. (Church) would have been in a vegetative state had we decided to keep him on the machine but as hard as it was to do, we pulled the plug."

The infant died Jan. 24, 2005.

Smith's decision to donate Church's organs is helping someone else live.

Smith said she knows of two recipients of her son's organs. While one of the infants died shortly after a transplant, a child in Florida now is able to live a healthy life.

"He is my hero, and will continue to be," Smith said. "The little girl got his liver and is able to live a normal life. It is sad we can't have him here with us, but having him impact someone else's life is truly a blessing."