What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger

Today marks the beginning of the season of perpetual cheer! On this Thanksgiving Day we take a look back at one of our touching stories from years past. We thank all of our Icing Smiles families for sharing moments that give us all hope, remind us of the power of faith, and call attention to how precious the gift of life really is. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Icing Smiles to all of you!

When Jonathan was born in February 2013, his parents had no warning of the medical complications that were to come.  As they were preparing to take him home, Jonathan went back for some last minute testing. After waiting a while for him to come back, his parents walked to the nursery to see what was taking so long.  They were devastated when they found him with oxygen being pumped through his body.  The testing had been a pulse ox test, which hospitals had begun doing routinely only two months before Jonathan was born. It saved his life!

Jonathan was rushed to the children’s hospital where he received medication while he waited for his surgery to place a shunt in to reroute his blood flow so he could breathe on his own.  He spent the next month in the NICU before being sent home on oxygen because his levels were too low.  Doctors were still puzzled by what was causing Jonathan’s complications.  He had a heart cath at two months old and the next day had emergency open heart surgery.  The diagnosis was a heart defect called Tetrology of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia.  Jonathan recovered quickly and went home a week later.  Jonathan had his next open heart surgery in December 2013 where he had a full heart repair.

After such a tremendous year of challenges and triumphs, Jonathan’s family wanted to celebrate his first birthday to the fullest.  Scott and Heather Florence of Sugarfuse! Cupcakery & Cake Studio in Dover, OH rose to this challenge with a spectacular 3 tier topsy turvy cake to help capture Jonathan’s journey.  Inspired by the inscription request of “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger,” Scott and Heather wanted to expand on the idea and incorporate Jonathan’s parents into the cake as well.

Both of Jonathan’s parents have tattoos so the Florence’s enlisted the help of a local tattoo artist to help with the artwork. Their friend came into the cake studio late Friday night and sketched out the banners on wafer paper. He used gel food color to paint the words, and then Scott airbrushed them and added some finishing touches. Scott also did the same process for the wings and made the 3D heart topper from fondant. Everything on the cake is edible!

Thank you to Sugarfuse! for making Jonathan’s celebration even sweeter!