From Heartbreak to Hope: A North Texas Family Finds Healing at Texas Health Plano

No family is ever prepared for the heartbreak that comes with losing a child, especially when that loss comes soon after birth. It’s a feeling that Penny and Tyler Adair know all too well. Yet their story is also one of remarkable resilience and turning grief into a gift of hope for other families.

While pregnant with their son, Coleman, Penny suffered a ruptured appendix at 19 weeks and underwent an emergency appendectomy at Texas Health Flower Mound. She recovered well, and early scans suggested both she and Baby Coleman were doing fine. But just days later, Penny began feeling unwell again.

When she felt her symptoms were getting worse, she and Tyler headed to the Emergency Department at Texas Health Plano. She was quickly moved to the hospital’s Labor and Delivery unit, where the medical staff did everything they could to prevent an early delivery. It wasn’t long before it became clear, however, that she would need to give birth to Coleman at just 21 weeks.

Coleman was 1 pound at birth and lived for 90 precious minutes on that August day in 2025 — minutes Penny describes as “sweet and blessed,” held up by the care of nurses and obstetrician Randall Burt, M.D. on the Texas Health Plano medical staff, who prayed with the Adairs before delivery and helped them celebrate their son’s life.

While Tyler admits that the news of Coleman’s birth felt heavy, Penny’s optimism and the kindness of the labor and delivery and mother-baby staff helped him to celebrate his son’s delivery. Staff members treated Coleman’s birth with the same care as any full‑term delivery, capturing photos, footprints and keepsakes, presenting a baby blanket and giving the Adairs time in the hospital’s Serenity Room to hold him, honor him, and grieve. The memory box the couple received became a lifeline in those early days, filled with thoughtful items meant to support grieving parents.

“We felt incredibly cared for throughout this time,” Penny says. “The mother-baby staff was also extremely respectful of our circumstances while we were in that unit.”

Welcoming Lainey

As journeys sometimes do, the Adair’s took a turn toward healing and hope. After deep loss, the family found renewed joy in the birth of their daughter, Lainey. Penny and Tyler welcomed Baby Lainey into the world almost exactly one year from the date of Coleman’s passing.

Not long after Lainey’s birth, nurses noticed she was having some breathing issues that prompted a five-day stay in the Texas Health Plano NICU. Fluid had built up in her young lungs that required monitoring. 

Although Penny was cleared to go home, she couldn’t imagine leaving without Lainey. Recognizing how difficult that possibility was for the family, the mother-baby staff arranged for the Adairs to stay in a family suite, where Penny continued receiving postpartum care and support from a lactation consultant.

To provide additional reassurance during the uncertain time, a mother-baby nurse even stayed with the family for two nights, giving them peace of mind while ensuring they could visit Lainey in the NICU whenever they wanted. Once Lainey was ready to leave the NICU, she remained under observation in the family suite alongside her parents until they were able to leave the hospital together.

It was quite fitting that the day Lainey went home for the first time happened to be Coleman’s birthday.

Paying Their Experience Forward

During their extended stay at Texas Health Plano, the Adairs hung a beautiful sign on their hospital door that let everyone know they wanted to talk about their son and daughter. It was a heartfelt reminder that Coleman’s memory remained an important part of their growing family. They also wanted everyone to know how deeply grateful they were for the care that had carried them through their darkest days.

What was especially meaningful to both Penny and Tyler was how the staff “walked alongside them” and made them feel “extremely cared for throughout their very different experiences” at Texas Health Plano. Out of those experiences grew a desire to help others in a way that allowed the couple’s sorrow to become a source of comfort and hope for families who would come after them.

To honor Coleman, Penny and Tyler created their own memory boxes and delivered them to the hospital. The boxes included resources and items they believed could make a difference for families facing similar heartbreak.

To learn more about the maternity experience at Texas Health, visit TexasHealth.org/PlanoBaby.