GLADEWATER (KYTX) - An East Texas soldier rushes home from Afghanistan to spend time at the hospital with his wife, who is in a coma, and his newborn son, in the NICU.
Sean Brown says the only thing keeping him going is the love and support from his family, community, and his new baby boy.
His wife's coma was caused by pregnancy complications, and though she's showing signs of recovery, she hasn't woken up yet.
Brown is taking one day at a time, spending every second watching his son, and praying for his wife.
"His name is John Michael Thomas Brown," Brown says.
John is the baby doctors told Sean and his wife, Heather, they'd never be able to have.
"They said there's no chance. You're never going to have a child."
However, after 7 years of marriage - a miracle.
"She woke me up one morning with a pregnancy test just beaming," Brown says with tears in his eyes.
Brown, also a Gladewater Police Officer, had only been in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army for a month, when he got a terrifying email.
"All the email said is 'Heather's in the hospital and they're taking John.'"
Heather was diagnosed with a potentially deadly condition called preeclampsia - dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy.
"Heather began to have seizures," Sean says. "While she was in the hospital she was still seizing, slipped into a coma, they had to emergency C section the baby and heather hasn't come out yet."
Through all the stress and fear. Brown says, there is hope.
"We've seen minor improvements," he says. :We've seen motor skills, she's breathing on her own, brain activity is still there. She's actually moving her head and her feet on her own."
He gains faith every time he looks into the eyes of his little miracle.
"He's been gaining weight," Brown says about his son. "He's been taking the bottle very well, so hopefully within the next 5 to 7 days he's going to get to come home. He's strong. He's a fighter like his mama."
As he prays that his wife will get to meet her son, he clings to very thing keeping him going.
"He's my boy. He's part of my wife, and he needs some daddy son time."
Brown spent 36 hours in the air and stayed awake for 72 hours straight, traveling to get home to his family.
He and his wife's family members are providing support, and so is the community.
When he arrived back in East Texas, fellow Gladewater Police and also Tyler Police formed a police escort to rush him to the hospital.
Brown is back in East Texas for good because he is now considered a single father caretaker, he will not have to go back to Afghanistan. He is working out an employment situation with the Gladewater Police Department, so he can continue to support his wife and new baby boy.
Family and friends have created a fund for the family, for medical costs and Sean's time away from work. If you'd like to help, donations can be dropped off at any Austin Bank in East Texas, under the "Heather and John Brown Fund."
For more information on Heather's condition, preeclampsia, click here: http://www.preeclampsia.org/
