Samuel Redding Gentry (May 9th-May 12th)

Hello family, friends, and visitors. On behalf of Nathan & Elly Gentry, I want to thank you for visiting this page, and for your continued prayers and support as we reflect on the few days of little Sam's life and hold out hope in the goodness of God in the face of real sadness.

Below you will find a brief snapshot of Samuel's life as well as a Google Photo link where you can see a few pictures and videos of Sam and his family. Included below is Nathan & Elly's mailing address, and if giving through GoFundMe is not your preferred platform, you will find Nathan's Venmo and CashApp info toward the bottom. If you'd like to participate in providing meals, there is a MealTrain link you could use to set up a time to bring or send them something.

If you need to reach out to me (Jonathan - brother to Nathan), I'd be happy to hear from you. Again, on behalf of Nathan & Elly and their wider families, we greatly appreciate your loving care and concern through this season.

Thank you.

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Samuel Redding Gentry

Samuel in the Old Testament was given in kindness from God who heard his mother’s prayers. It means “told by God.” We had prayed that our son would listen and respond to the voice and call of the Lord as Samuel did even as a child. Redding is in reference to the Red Sea, as we give all praise to the God who parted the waters to make a way when there was no way through all the hard things and fears of this pregnancy. We had prayed that our son would have faith to trust God even when it seems like there is no way through.

“Your way was through the sea, Your path through the great waters;

yet Your footprints were unseen. You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” - Psalms 77:19-20

Sam was born on Monday May 9, 2022 at 4:04pm at 19 3/4 in long and weighing in at 6 lbs. 5 oz. Mom was strong throughout the delivery and even cut the cord herself! Holding Sam close during his first moments of life was so special for both of us and we were so delighted to see Sam born healthy and strong.

But just a few hours before we were to be discharged on Wednesday, May 11th, one of the head nurses noticed Samuel seemed to have issues breathing. Sam was taken quickly from our room to be monitored down the hall, but little did we know that would be the last time we would see his beautiful body without being all hooked up to machines, monitors, and medications.

A little while after, another nurse came into our room to let us know Sam had been taken to the NICU because his breathing had worsened. It was there that he had his first of what would be many seizures. The NICU staff ran many tests and gave Sam meds to fight what they thought might be a serious infection, but we thought there was still a lot of hope.

We knew we had a new uphill battle to fight and needed time to regroup to be there for Sam. Nathan urged Elly to head home for the evening after she was discharged while he stayed at Sam’s side so that they could trade places in the morning, but that moment never came. Sam had a stroke causing great bleeding to one side of his brain. Sam needed to be transported by ambulance to the children’s hospital to get more specialized care.

For a few hours, it seemed the medications were helping and stabilizing Samuel so that he could be transported to the hospital; but when the transport team came more seizures occurred. It was at that point while Nathan was sitting outside the room that a doctor approached him and told him that Sam was very, very sick and asked if we wanted a chaplain to be here. It was the most heartbreaking moment of our life.

We begged God for Sam to pull through just a little bit longer until Elly could arrive back at the hospital. Thankfully, the Lord answered our prayer. We held our little Sam’s hands and prayed that God would get him to the children's hospital alive. He again answered our prayer and we were still holding onto hope as the ambulance arrived that Sam would make a long, but difficult recovery.

But once we arrived at the next hospital, we quickly became aware that the infection had entered into Sam’s bloodstream and the now multiple strokes had caused severe bleeding and damage to both sides of Sam’s brain. This terrible infection had been too much for his little body to overcome.

In the midst of our immense grief, we still can see God’s kindness in allowing us to spend just a few more hours with our son. Hours we spent sharing photos and videos of Sam with family, hours praying for him and singing over him; hours taking photos and taking footprints, hours where Jordan got to meet his little brother, tell him “I love you” and for a brief time we were together as a family of four. Hours with Uncle Jonny who anointed Sam’s head with oil and dedicated him to the Lord and hours with Didi (Elly’s Mom) and Papa G (Nathan’s Dad) who got to look lovingly on their grandson. Moments with a professional photographer offering to take photos for our family that we will cherish forever, moments where we dressed him in his going home outfit and held him once more without being hooked up to anything so we could see our beautiful boy once again as God created him to be.

We wish we just had more moments. More moments to share with Sam. Moments to share him with others. Moments for Sam and Jordan to spend time together as brothers. Moments to take more photos and create more memories. But we are so grateful for the moments we did get with our Sam and we hope you all will help come alongside us in remembering him and reminding us that we will always be his Mama, Dad, and big brother Jordy.

Thank you again for all of your love, thoughts, support, and prayers as we remember our Sam.

Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” - 1 Samuel 3:4

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Google Photo Album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/m2L4BKPETWZSJ3C4A

Mailing Address: Nathan & Elly Gentry

413 Clemson St, Gahanna, OH 43230

Venmo: @nathan-gentry

CashApp: $thenathangentry

MealTrain: https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/n1221q

Thank you for your time, prayers, and support.