Randy and I (Daphne)
met during high school band camp in 1987. We
dated on in off until his graduation in 1989.
He left for the United States Air Force
September of 1989. We kept in touch over the
next several years. I graduated in 1991 from
West High and went onto college to pursue my
degree in Nursing.
Picture: Me, D.J. And Randy
I married an older man in 1994 and had a son
in 1995 named Dylan ( D.J.). After two years
of marriage we divorced in 1996.
Randy had gone all over the world , yet we
always seemed to keep in touch over the
years.
I finally
married my bestfriend on October 28, 1996.
After his discharge from the Air Force, Randy
got a job at Lane Aviation here in Columbus,
Ohio. 
He was waiting on a
list to get into the Police Academy here.
Picture: Our Wedding Day
I was now pregnant with our son Randy, so I
became a stay at home mom. My pregnancy went
well for the most part. At 16 weeks I had
some blood work come back with high levels of
AFP (Alpha Fetal Protein). The normal is .20
to .25, mine was .50. My doctor thought I was
carrying a trisomy 18, the gene noncompatible
with life and the babies usually die at birth
from lack of a brain. I had an anmniocentesis
done an the results came back normal, at
least they thought. I continued the
pregnancy. My delivery was tough, I
could’nt have the epidural, because of
my bleeding problems. Epidurals run the risk
of permanently paralyzing someone with low
clotting factors.
On the early morning hours of May 22, 1997 at
12:07 am Randall Lowell Mayhew was born 6lbs
13.5oz. and 19 inches long. When the doctor
placed Randy onto my belly after his birth I
could see that his feet didn’t look
right. 
The skin on his right
leg from the knee down and the left ankle
down to the foot were dripping blood and
missing skin. The rest of his body looked
completely normal.
Picture: Me pregnant with Randy
Immediately a team of doctors and nurses
rushed into the room and took my baby. My mom
and husband were crying and no one would tell
me anything. My mom and husband left with the
baby and my sister in law Carrie stayed with
me and held my hand while I was getting
stitched up.
It was 3 am before I saw my sweet little
angel in the NICU. The doctors and nurses
didn’t have any idea what was wrong with
Randy. They didn’t know not to wipe him
or put any sort of tapes on to monitor him.
He was blistering an tearing all over his
body from them trying to work on him. I
thought maybe I got some sorta infection from
the amnio that caused this to happen to him.
My OB had been practicing for over 30 years
and had never seen an EB before. My doctor
assumed that Randy’s skin did’nt
fuse together in the womb. He convinced me
and my husband that his legs would heal and
everything would be fine.
At 3 am in the morning our pediatrician
called me in the hospital and told me he
found a pediatric plastic surgeon, Dr.Steven
Teich who had seen kids like our Randy
before. Eight hours after Randy’s birth
he was taken by transport to Children’s
Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. 
Signing those papers for
transport was the first of the many
devastating times I was going to endure.
Picture: Randy in NICU
He visited Randy in the NICU and met with us
in the parents room to inform us that our son
had a rare disease called Epidermolysis
Bullosa, such a big name for a disease
affecting such a little baby. He told us that
he would always have this disease and that if
we could get him to live to be a year old we
had a chance for survival.
At that moment our lives would change
forever.
He asked us to come to his office the
following day to discuss Randy’s care
plan. When we arrived Dr Teich handed us a
stack of papers about EB and how to care for
these kids. He showed us pictures of children
he helped and an article he did on this
material called omniderm, it helps the skin
regenerate and prevents less scaring.
The next 6 days Randy was in the NICU at
Childrens Hospital. He had a 
biopsy taken before he went
home to confirm what type of EB he has.
Picture: Randy's Newborn Picture
The nurses did more harm than good to our
little Randy. He was being touched, diapered
, and monitored all wrong. None of the nurses
were familiar with EB, but tried the best
they could to help. I spent endless hours up
at the hospital protecting him. My husband
Randy had no vacation built up yet and had to
work. My mom and brother took care of my son
D.J. for us.
I don’t know how I would’ve
survived those days without their help.
When we brought Randy home and enterd into
our small two bedroom apartment we were
greeted by family and friends. Stacked in the
middle of the room were three large boxes of
medical supplies. I had never felt so
overwhelmed in my life. I quickly quickly
became depressed over my sons disease. I felt
like nobody could understand what I was
feeling.
I had so many questions for God racing
through my head. Why wasn’t my son
normal like my first? What did I or my
husband do that was so bad in our lives, that
we were being punished for? I became very
bitter with God and my faith for about the
first year. No matter how many times someone
would say to me, " God chose you to do
his work " or " He’s so lucky
to have you" I did’nt want to hear
it. How could my son be lucky to have a mom
who is an emotional wreck all the time?
In the beginning I
cried all the time. I had trouble dealing
with people staring and making assumptions
about my baby. It hurt me to see my baby in
so much pain all the time.
Picture: Randy in his bouncer
Three months after Randy was born I became
pregnant again, another boy. We were scared
about having another child like Randy, but
very happy. I was starting to feel complete
again.
I miscarried our son in my second trimester.
Once again we were experiencing a tremendous
amount of pain and now a loss too.
A few months later I got pregnant again. We
had just moved into our newly built home and
were so devastated to be pregnant so soon. I
had a CVS ( Chronic Villi Sampling ) done to
see if the baby had EB, she did’nt! I
decided to name our daughter after my mom,
since she’d been so supportive of us
through Randy’s birth.
On August
18, 1998 Donna Jean Mayhew was born weighing
7lbs. 3oz. 20.5 inches. At this point we felt
very lucky to have a healthy child. Randy was
doing better and dealing with his EB was
already being incorporated into our everyday
lives. At this point we decided not to have
any more children. Around December of that
year we found out that we were pregnant
again.
Once
more I had all the testing done and on August
6, 1999 Dalayna Jean Mayhew was born almost 4
weeks early weighing 5lbs 9 oz. 17 inches
long and EB free. We were so lucky this time
too, so we’re not having anymore.
Picture: All our babies together,
Xmas 1999
Since then
Randy has had two surgeries to release
webbing and a G-tube inserted for calories at
night. His daddy has become a Police Officer
and mommy’s still waitng to finish her
year left in school to get her Nursing
degree.
I’ve
finally come to realize that Randy
would’nt be here if it was’nt for
me. Each year gets a little easier to deal
with his disease . It’s been tough on
our marriage and our family life as a whole.
Randy’s EB has broughten all of us so
much closer and made us stronger. We’ve
learned to take things one day at a time. I
think we have a greater appreciation for life
now. We want to make the most out of the time
we have here on this earth together. Watching
Randy play with his siblings and enjoying all
the holidays reminds us that aside from his
fragileness, he’s really not so
different at all. We are so blessed to have
our little EB Angel .
Playing: I
knew I loved you before I met you by Savage
Garden
