Baby at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh dies while awaiting liver transplant
Eileen Halloran cradled her grandson, Chance, on Friday night.
She noticed something different about the baby boy who had lived his entire life in a neonatal intensive care unit, attached to a ventilator. The past year had been filled with operations, medical tests and drama.
He was under consideration for a liver transplant. His mother died last year.
“We knew he was very, very sick, but he just looked, really, really tired to me (on Friday),” said Halloran, a Greenfield native who lives in Carrick. “I told him, ‘Chance, it’s OK if you want to go be with your mommy. We want you to stay, but if you need to go, it’s OK.’ ”
Chance died of liver failure at 9:38 p.m. Saturday — the day he was featured in the Tribune-Review — in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where he had lived for almost all of his 400 days of life.
Halloran said many members of the hospital staff gathered in Chance’s room.
“What an incredible team … every one of them cared for Chance,” Halloran said. “They became part of our family.”
Chance’s father, Cameron Halloran of Carrick, held his son in his final moments, Halloran said.
Chance William Kacin Halloran was born March 20, 2021, at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Oakland to Kasee Lynn Kacin, who grew up in Vandergrift.
A placental abruption, when the placenta separates from the inner wall of the uterus before birth, caused delivery at 23.5 weeks, 109 days before his July 7 due date.
He weighed 1 pound, 12 ounces.
Chance spent his first week of life at Magee’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. He was transferred to UPMC Children’s Hospital for treatment of a suspected intestinal obstruction.
Kacin, his mother, died from a drug overdose in October.
Chance celebrated his first birthday at UPMC Children’s, where he was at the time the longest resident in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
At times, Chance had to be fed by total parenteral nutrition, a method of feeding that bypasses the gastrointestinal tract. It can cause damage to the liver. He had been recommended by the transplant team at UPMC Children’s Hospital to be eligible to receive an organ donation.
His medical condition was complicated, said Dr. Carey A. Welsh, director of Newborn Medicine Advanced Practice Providers for UPMC Children’s.
There was a time last summer doctors and family thought Chance might not make it through the night. Doctors were discussing a do-not-resuscitate order. Halloran and her wife, Sandy, left the room and noticed a storm rolling in.
“You could see the lightning strikes over top of the city skyscrapers,” she said. “Chance’s parents called and asked us to come sit with Chance, as they were going to take a walk and talk. As we proceeded back to the baby’s hospital room, I received a text from my daughter Patricia that read, ‘I really hope that the heavens rain down a miracle for Chance.’ We walked back into the room, and we heard the loudest rumble of thunder I have ever heard in my life followed by the brightest strike of lightning close to the building.”
Chance started to recover throughout the day.
They nicknamed him “Chance Lightning.”
Halloran, who didn’t see Chance in person until June 2021 because of covid restrictions, said the nurses and doctors and hospital staff are compassionate and kind. Chance is her fourth grandchild and first grandson.
Halloran, who has been chronicling Chance’s life via social media, posted after his death.
When Halloran talked with Sandy later Friday at dinner, she told her what she had said to Chance about it being OK to go and be with his mommy.
“Sandy said, ‘I told him the same thing,’ ” Halloran said. “We both had an intuition about it.”
Family and friends will gather for a celebration of his life from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Kanai Funeral Home in Greenfield. A ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Friday in the funeral home. Burial will be in Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Hazelwood.
There is a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
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