Surprise adds to new beginnings for couple

It wasn't so long ago Kai Luttmann's plight brought tears to the eyes of this community.

As many of you will recall, Kai James Luttmann passed away on Dec. 18, 2004, after seven weeks on earth battling an insidious disease called spinal muscular atrophy.

Kai's mom and dad, Ryan and Nikki Luttmann, showed tremendous courage during Kai's short life and following his passing.

Kai's legacy left a mark on this young couple and to anyone who knows the Luttmanns.

Kai is remembered in many ways: There's the improvements at Bonner General Hospital, that occurred as a result of Ryan's presidency in Rotary.

There's a brick in front of the Panida with Kai's name on it that was purchased by a 5-year-old boy with more than his fair share of health issues.

"I want to help Kai because at least I am going to live," said Cody Walker, to his mom, Anna. Cody raided the savings account for money that was previously earmarked for a motorcycle.

Ryan and Nikki asked for nothing during this ordeal but what they learned was they had an entire community behind them.

"People still come up to me and ask how I am doing," she said. "I even have people stop me at the store and ask how my baby is doing.

"I feel bad for them when I tell them what happened but I know they ask because they cared."

As time has passed, Nikki and Ryan have tried to move on. There had been some talk of expensive procedures ($25,000) that would screen for SMA. With a new house, Nikki's new job at the hospital and a bunch of bills, risky procedures, talks of adoption, etc. were pushed to the side.

Pushed out of the way not unlike the many unopened boxes of Kai's belongings — mostly handmade gifts from friends as well as from complete strangers.

Ryan and Nikki gave away the changing table and bouncy seats to Panhandle Health and other baby room necessities to charities.

Then a miracle happened …

The couple had planned to go to San Francisco to begin a genetic screening process to discover which of them carried the recessive SMA gene.

On April 26, the folks at the University of California San Francisco, told the couple that Nikki was 10 weeks and six days pregnant and they tested the baby girl for the deadly SMA gene.

They got the call the Thursday before Mother's Day.

In other words, congratulations Mr. and Mr. Luttmann, you have a healthy daughter on the way who is scheduled to show up around Nov. 17.

How about that for a Mother's Day gift?

"To call the news a blessing doesn't do it justice," Nikki said. "We are still in shock. We were prepared for the worst."

Ryan called his Mom at 6:45 a.m. on Mother's Day with the good news.

Nikki is happy this child is a girl so there will be no comparisons to what Kai may or may not have done.

But there are comparisons.

"I can already feel this baby move," Nikki said last week. "Kai never moved."

As word of the pregnancy circulated through Bonner General Hospital, many of the doctors and staffers who helped Kai were brought to tears.

"I knew something was wrong with Kai the entire time I was pregnant," she said.

Ryan and Nikki's new house now has a baby's room, complete with a crib and a whole host of items that were starting to gather dust in boxes.

"A lot of people came up to us who had lost children the past year or so," Ryan said. "We met a lot of people who we wouldn't have known if it wasn't for Kai."

The experience of losing a child will never leave Ryan and Nikki, they said.

"Every minute counted in Kai's life and you have to believe that made us look inward about what we are doing with our lives," Ryan said.

As I was wrapping up this story late last week, Nikki phoned me.

"Can you hold off on the story?" she asked. My heart sank … again.

"We are waiting for some more results and want all of the questions answered," she said.

A short time later she called back and told me that they had learned that Kai was indeed a special child and that the couple have a 25-percent chance of having a child born with SMA.

"Welcome to our rollercoaster lives," she said.

David Keyes is publisher of the Bee. His column runs weekly.