Eden Calhoun. Don’t forget that name.
This Friday and Saturday, volleyball teams from three major Alabama universities will descend on the University of North Alabama (UNA) campus for the UNA Invitational. Intense collegiate volleyball play may be the focus of the weekend, but on Friday night, the tournament will turn to Eden.
Eden Calhoun was born on September 6, 2022 at a hospital in Houston, Texas. When she arrived in this world, no one was happier than her parents, Lexie and Dylan Calhoun, who had met at UNA but moved to San Antonio, Tex., for Dylan’s career in the U.S. Air Force. Lexie had been a former volleyball player at UNA while Dylan played baseball for the Lions. Eden was the couple’s first child, and though doctors had discovered a rare birth defect during Lexie’s pregnancy at the 16-week mark, the couple remained hopeful that Eden could live a long, normal life.
“We found out during an ultrasound that Eden was diagnosed with CDH. A hole is formed in the diaphragm when the baby is growing in utero and it never closes up like it should. When you have that hole in the diaphragm, when the baby’s organs are growing and developing, they just kind of grow in the wrong place…and often, the lungs don’t have a space to grow,” Lexie describes.
The couple soon discovered that they could not receive the care for baby Eden in the San Antonio area and were referred to Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, which specializes in CDH patients. The Calhouns began to meet with specialists in both San Antonio and Houston, and were back and forth between the two cities—which is about a three-and-a-half hour drive—over the next few months. Eventually, they relocated to Houston full-time.
Though it is commonplace for CDH babies to spend several months in the NICU after birth, during initial visits, the Calhouns were told that Eden had about an 80 percent chance of making it through the hospital. So, they remained hopeful.
Logistical difficulties associated with Eden’s condition may have been one thing; navigating the trauma of watching their tiny daughter endure 13 surgeries after she was born was quite another for Lexie and Dylan. Lexie describes their harrowing journey as a “roller coaster” filled with hope and disappointment, but in the midst of it a little girl demonstrated her resilience and inspired many in the process.
After Eden was born on September 6, weighing 5 lbs., 3 oz., Lexie and Dylan learned that her lungs were not working properly. Because she immediately had to be intubated, the new mother didn’t get a chance to hold her child.
The next day, Eden was placed on an ECMO machine. Two days later, doctors discovered a clot in Eden’s neck which had to be surgically repaired. That event set the Calhouns on a course for the next several weeks that no parents would ever want to endure.
Though surgery after surgery was a heart-wrenching exercise for Dylan and Lexie, Eden’s fight to stay alive warmed their hearts. In fact, Eden’s story began to filter through the halls of the hospital, such that doctors and other medical staff who had nothing to do with Eden’s care or would stop by just to pay her a visit.
A “Prayers for Eden” Facebook group was created, and her story became known literally all over the world. “At one point, we had over a thousand people in that group, checking for updates,” Lexie said. “From Brazil, from Europe, all of these crazy places around the world who heard of Eden’s story starting following the group, and they would send us messages that would say, ‘I started believing in God because of Eden. Her story is so miraculous, I can see God working through her. It was a very, very special thing to witness as a mom.’”
Unfortunately, the Calhouns had to contend with mounting medical bills and other expenses that caring for Eden required. They rented a monthly Airbnb apartment while in Houston, but still had to pay rent back in San Antonio. Throw in hospital garage fees, meals, etc., and you can run up quite the tab.
In early October, things turned for the worse for Eden. She got an infection, and even though she had fought through every surgery and came out on the other side, her body was simply not strong enough to fight it off.
Eden Jeanette Calhoun passed away on October 3, 2022.
Lexie and Dylan were devastated at the loss of their baby girl but felt a strong pull to somehow honor her life. Due to the stress of having to relocate to Houston and also understanding the financial burden a CDH diagnosis can lay on a family, Lexie and Dylan founded the Eden Calhoun Charitable Fund to assists parents of children with CDH with relocation fees and other financial responsibilities associated with the condition.
Last year, UNA volleyball hosted the first annual “Eden Calhoun Memorial Match” that raised money to benefit the foundation. The second installment of this event will occur on Friday as UNA faces UAB at CB&S Bank Arena at Flowers Hall in Florence.
Host team UNA welcomes teams from Jacksonville State, UAB, and Arkansas State for the two-day event, and by using the code ecmm24, fans can purchase tickets with this link to support the Eden Calhoun Charitable Fund with a portion of proceeds going to the foundation.
“She just changed the lives of so many people,” Lexie said of Eden. “We knew that her name was so special, her story was so special, for people to forget about it.”
The name “Eden” in Hebrew means “delight.” And according to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, Eden was the garden in which the first parents dwelt. For Lexie and Dylan Calhoun, Eden was not only a garden in which to dwell, she was a parents’ delight.
Because they are people of faith, Lexie and Dylan have leaned on the Lord to get them through this ordeal and find some purpose in their pain. The Eden Calhoun Charitable Fund is the means to that end. They continue to lean on 2 Timothy 4:7-8, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness..”
Eden’s time on this earth, though short, reminds us also of the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “It is not length of life, but depth of life. He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.”
Eden Calhoun will be remembered for facing her fears. For having the courage to fight for life, even when she faced adversity.
Though she lived only 27 days on this earth, she lived a full life.
She learned the secret. TG
To read Eden’s story and to learn more about the charity founded in her memory, please visit www.ahandtoalwayshold.org.
Photos courtesy the Calhoun family.
