(A special edition of Out of the Mouths of Babes)
COMPILED BY TIFFANY GRAVETT
Quotes used with permission from “The Wisdom of Little Doug,” by Cami Behl, Little Doug’s mother
While perusing Facebook for this week’s kid quotes, I stumbled upon a 2022 post from a mother desperately asking for prayers for her dying seven-year-old son, little Doug. Little Doug had been diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy and acute heart failure shortly after his sixth birthday and had developed an infection.
The children’s hospital he was in at the time said he had a zero percent chance of survival, and that it was a “waste of their time” to try to perform the needed surgery because it had never been done on a pediatric patient before. However, his mother, Cami, chose to believe what God was telling her over the dim prognosis of the doctors. She fought what she calls the fight of her life to get little Doug out of that hospital and into a place that could offer some hope.
Texas Children’s Hospital and their team of experts investigated the situation and agreed to do the extremely risky surgery and warned little Doug’s family that there was a very low chance of success. But for Cami, a little hope was better than no hope at all.
Miraculously, the surgery was a success and Little Doug is now a bright, thriving nine-year-old! He not only faces every challenge with big faith, but also with an amazing sense of humor!
Today’s kid quotes are from a book published by his mother as a way of documenting his “resilient, fun-loving, exuberant” perspective on life. The “Wisdom of Little Doug” can be purchased on Amazon, and all proceeds go into Little Doug’s savings fund!
***
Little Doug was laying in his hospital bed, and he said to me in a sad voice: “Mom, I think my heart is failing.” The nurse’s head popped up, and she looked at him and then me. Me: (In my “I’m wise to your ways” voice) “And just why do you think that?” Little Doug: “Because breakfast is taking SOOOOO LONG to get here!” –age 7
***
Little Doug: “Dad, how does a lightning rod attract lightning? Like, I wanna know what lightning really likes.” –age 7
***
Little Doug: (sigh) “This is just a knocked down day.” Me: What do you mean?” Little Doug: “You know… this day just feels like the Wicked Witch of the East’s legs.” –age 6
***
It was bedtime, and once again Little Doug was super talkative. “Mom, do you know why God gave us skin?” Me: “Why?” Little Doug: “Because without skin we would all just look like creepy skeletons… AND, we wouldn’t know who is a girl and who is a boy. Mom, do you know why skin is what tells you if a person is a girl or a boy?” Me: “Ummmm… why?” Little Doug: “Because skin can grow HAIR… and hair is what tells you if someone is a girl or a boy.” –age 6
***
Little Doug: “Mom, I wish I was an octopus!” Me: “You do? Why?” Little Doug: “Because they have THREE hearts!” –age 6
***
We were at the Children’s Hospital, and Little Doug and I were sad because Daddy had to leave us and go back to work. So, to pass the time ‘til bedtime, we fired up the PlayStation Ghostbusters game. Little Doug was super stoked because he found his way to the library in the game; and he had been wanting to bust the library ghost. When he saw the library on the screen, he shouted out: (loud enough that the nurses at the CICU desk heard it) “I’M COMING FOR YA, BUTTER CUP!” I chuckled and said: “That doesn’t sound like very tough talk for a Ghostbuster.” Little Doug: “Mom, when you call someone a PEANUT butter cup–it’s a compliment; but when you just call them a butter cup–it’s an insult.” –age 6
***
A couple nurses had just left Little Doug’s room, and I said to him: “Why does it seem like you are everyone’s favorite patient?” Little Doug (in a nonchalant, matter-of-fact tone): “Do you want to know how I do it, Mom? I just use ALL my cuteness on them.” –age 6
Comments