'Our little miracle'

It is the season of miracles for Christian believers such as Glenn and Karen Ackom.

For the Ackoms, the often quoted passage from Isaiah 9:6 - "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" - takes on personal meaning with the birth of their son, Jeffery.

"We call him our little miracle," Glenn said.

For most of their lives, Glenn and Karen have beaten the odds, achieving in their personal lives what many people said they couldn't. The survival of their son shows that Jeffery inherited their powerful spirits.

Glenn was born with a slight learning disability, he said. Karen was born with spina bifida, in which the spinal cord develops incorrectly. Her condition caused spinal fluid to back up into her brain, and surgeons installed a shunt to relieve the pressure. In another complication, a nerve in her right leg died, which led to the amputation of the leg below the knee.

In spite of her physical limitations, Karen dreamed about having a family someday.

"I always wanted to know if I could have kids," she said. "We went to a doctor in Polson and she said no."

But the doctor went beyond that, saying she wasn't physically capable. According to Karen, the doctor said they wouldn't make good parents.

That was enough to fire up Karen and Glenn to prove the physician and other naysayers wrong.

"We both faced challenges in our lives," Glenn said. "I've overcome a lot of challenges."

He was born into a family used to obstacles. While Glenn struggles with learning, his siblings were born with autism. Then his father died at just 42 years old.

As members of the Mormon church, his family drew on their faith as his mother, Donna Ackom, cared for children with special needs. She encouraged Glenn to believe he could achieve his dreams.

"I played football for three years," he said. "That was a big, big challenge."

With inspiration from his special education teachers, Glenn pursued his interest in writing. He eventually published a book of poetry and hopes to someday pursue writing full time.

Glenn takes particular pride in having served a mission for his church in south Chicago in 1989 and '91. He credits his fellow missionaries with helping him to achieve this goal.

"It's been nice having people help you with a challenge," he said. "My mom has helped and so has her mom [Cindy Perkins]."

As it turned out, Glenn's Mormon faith became the conduit for him to find love. It happened in 2004 at a Valentine's Day dance at his church in Polson where he met Karen on the day before his 34th birthday.

Karen, who lived in Hungry Horse with her mother, had joined the church about six years earlier.

The two started talking and love blossomed. When Karen took a trip to Virginia that spring, she got a proposal from Glenn in a letter. The two were married Sept. 24, 2004, in a Mormon temple in Canada.

After the doctor in Polson told the couple they couldn't have children, they decided to get a second opinion. A surgeon gave Karen a chance for children by performing an operation in 2005. He told the couple that a child was possible but that the risk of a tubal pregnancy would be high.

Several months later, Karen and Glenn took a church trip to Canada. Because Karen was feeling sick all day, she wondered whether she might be pregnant.

She went out and bought two over-the-counter test kits. Both indicated pregnancy, but Karen refused to get her hopes up. Still living in Polson at the time, she went to a local clinic for a test, then paced all afternoon in their apartment.

When she finally called for results, the nurse wasn't sure how the news would sit with her. She asked whether she really wanted to know before passing on the verdict.

"She said 'I'm going to make this brief - you need to buy baby clothes, bottles, a crib,'" Karen recalled. " 'From the way the test looks, you're really pregnant.'"

She couldn't wait to pass on the good news to Glenn, who was working in the kitchen of Immanuel Lutheran Home. She turned his day around with her daddy message.

It took awhile for Jeffery to reveal his gender, though he finally did during an ultrasound examination when only Karen was present.

She decided to make the news special for Glenn by buying lots of boys baby clothes in blue. But he didn't get the picture right away.

"I said 'Read the bib, Glenn,'" she said. "It said 'Boys are wonderful.'"

That was the end of the fun for Karen. She said was so sick that she couldn't keep anything down. Her sleep was disrupted, and her physical problems complicated matters.

"I had a real rough pregnancy because of my high blood pressure," she said. "I came close to having a miscarriage."

Karen said she wasn't feeling bad at all in September when she went in for a routine checkup with her obstetrician, Dr. Randy Beach, in Whitefish. The couple recently had moved to Kalispell.

Karen and Glenn were shocked by the news from Beach.

"He said, 'Your vital organs are shutting down. If we don't ship you, you won't make it,''' she said.

"It was scary."

Beach said she had severe toxemia, a life-threatening complication of pregnancy. He told them that the baby must be delivered right away.

"I said but I'm only 28 weeks," she said. "I asked if it would harm Jeffery, but they said it would be all right."

In short order, the ALERT helicopter flew Karen to Community Medical Center in Missoula. Glenn and the rest of the family followed by car.

By the time they arrived, Jeffery Thomas James Ackom had entered the world by Caesarean section. The date was Sept. 25, just one day after the couple's second anniversary.

Glenn went to see Karen in the intensive-care unit. The room was dimly lit to avoid a possible stroke. Her first question was about Jeffery, so Glenn ventured into the room full of premature babies.

Weighing in at just 1 pound, 9 ounces, their baby seemed the tiniest and most vulnerable of all. Glenn was able to touch his son through the tubes and wires and talk to the doctor.

"He said he's OK, but he's not out of the woods yet," he said.

Karen left the hospital Oct. 1. But Jeffery was too small to leave the neonatal center. "I was very upset," she said. "I thought I was going to lose him. His vital organs weren't mature."

But Jeffery proved he was a fighter like his mom and dad. He improved week by week, and by the end of November he was strong enough to transfer to Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Karen recalled that at first she could lift her son easily with one hand. Jeffery had gained more than four pounds by the time he came to Kalispell. Doctors released Jeffery to his parents on Thursday.

Glenn began talking to his son and was excited when Jeffery began to recognized his voice.

"He made a tiny sound, like a mouse squeak," he said with a smile. "I asked if that was him or the machine."

Karen has had surgery to prevent more pregnancies, which would put her life at risk. The couple feels even more blessed as their son continues to thrive.

Karen said she and Glenn intend to provide a stable home for their boy.

"If we have a problem, we'll pull together for our son's sake," she said.

Because of her own challenges, she admits to having a few butterflies about taking charge of their little miracle's care.

"I'm up for the challenge," she said with a smile. "We'll just give him all the love we can give."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.