Enfield Man Battling Terminal Illness Sees His Son Born

ENFIELD, CT — Grant Joshua Chaffee arrived in the world at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center at 7:11 p.m. Wednesday, and his dad was there to see his son born, and then hold him in his arms. It was an amazing scenario for Joshua and Michelle Chaffee, a beautiful family which has been devastated in recent weeks by Joshua's diagnosis of stage 4 glioblastoma.

The baby boy weighed 6 pounds, 1 ounce and measured 19 inches in length. He had been due July 19, but Michelle's doctors planned to induce her into labor Thursday. Grant, however, had other ideas.

"At my appointment Monday, my doctor decided to have me go in Tuesday evening," Michelle told Patch. "The ultimate goal was for Josh to be there. He had an appointment at Saint Francis Wednesday afternoon, but my water broke on its own. Grant decided to come just in time, as Josh's ride home was supposed to arrive soon. If I had asked for a perfect case scenario, all things considered, it's better than I could have hoped for."

Michelle and Grant returned to their Enfield home Thursday, and the new mom took him to a follow-up doctor appointment Friday morning, where they received the great news of "no issues whatsoever. The doctor said he is perfect."

Less than three weeks ago, Joshua's prognosis was grim. "With treatment, he may possibly have a few more months," Michelle said at the time. "Without treatment, he has about four weeks."

Placing him into hospice care was declined by the couple, opting instead to begin treatment.

"I had noticed some improvement since the diagnosis," she said. "He is handling chemo and radiation very well, physically and mentally. He started walking, first with assistance, then a little on his own. One day he was giving one-word answers, then he started putting a few words together, then he started speaking in sentences. Every day has been small bits of progress."

In the meantime, family, friends and even total strangers have been doing all they can to aid the couple with projects such as completing renovation of the house they bought in January.

"One day, I came home to a houseful of people painting and helping out," Michelle said, adding that two days ago, local resident Chris Fontaine and a small crew installed four mini-split heating and air conditioning units, which had been donated by Samsung and F.W. Webb.

People have also pitched in to provide meals and other assistance, while a GoFundMe campaign initiated by Michelle's brother Bryan has brought in over $100,000 to help offset medical and living expenses.

"Even before the story came out, the amount of support was overwhelming," Michelle said. "We are blown away by the amount of people reaching out. Many people have shared their similar stories."