Babies and Toddlers

Even if you don't believe in God, It's hard not to look back on Trevor Kott's short life and get a sense that something greater than all of us had a hand in it.

Trevor was diagnosed with a rare form of congenital leukemia shortly after birth. His doctors had little hope for him; his parents, Bob and Angela Kott, were told that he had only a few weeks to live.

But little Trevor didn't seem to hear his doctors. The little boy with no hope bravely endured five rounds of chemotherapy and emerged on the other side a happy, chubby six-month-old whose smile was the sun in stormy skies. But tragically, the chemo wasn't enough to save Trevor's life. To do that, the doctors needed to give Trevor a bone marrow transplant, and Trevor had a rare tissue type. There was no matching donor in the international bone marrow registries, and no donor could be found despite a nationwide search. Trevor died on April 25, 2007.

On the surface, Trevor's story seems like a horrible tragedy. Knowing only the basic outline of Trevor's short life, a person might be tempted to ask, "Where is the sense in it? Why should a family like the Kotts have to endure such hardship in the effort to save their baby boy's life, and have it all be for nothing?"

But if you get a little closer to the story, it starts to become clear. It wasn't all for nothing. Visit the weblog the Kotts set up in honor of their son, and you'll see something amazing. 55,000 visitors. 1,400 entries in the guestbook, and growing. Page after page of messages from people who never even met the Kotts: "Because of Trevor, I am now a member of the National Bone Marrow Registry." "Trevor taught me to be a better parent." "Trevor taught me never to take one moment with my children for granted." Poetry in Trevor's memory. Messages of love and comfort. Proof that no matter how bad things get in this world, love will always prevail, even in the hearts of strangers.

If you look back at all the events that conspired to make Trevor's life what it was, it's almost hard to believe that they haven't been fictionalized. Trevor was born with a very rare and usually fatal illness, one that affects just one in 5 million births. He could have been cured by a bone marrow transplant, but to go with his rare illness he also had a rare tissue type, and no donor could be found. He could have died in anonymity a few weeks after his birth, but he held on for six months, long enough for thousands of people all over the world to hear his story. He could have had an extended and uncomfortable death, but when his time came, he went quickly and peacefully, in the arms of people who loved him beyond measure. Now, even the most hard-hearted atheist has to admit, there really seems to have been some design to Trevor's life.

Because of tiny Trevor Kott, more than 5,000 people have joined the National Bone Marrow Registry in California alone. And although Trevor is gone, drives are still being held in his name. In the brief time that Trevor was able to spend in this world, he accomplished more than most of us do in an average adult lifetime. And if he did all of that without the hand of God, well, that just makes his accomplishments even more remarkable.