Karil Greeson’s 2-year-old identical twin daughters played beside her in their Conway home as she talked about the upcoming Freezin’ for a Reason 5K/10K to benefit Arkansas Children’s Hospital — the place she credits with saving one of her children’s lives.
This year’s race will start at 9 a.m. Feb. 6 at John McConnell Stadium at Conway High School, 2300 Prince St. A prerace pasta party is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Feb. 5 at First United Methodist Church, 1610 Prince St., and is open to the public.
The fourth annual 5K/10K race is sponsored by the Faulkner County Chapter of Circle of Friends, supporters of the Little Rock hospital.
The race was started to honor the memories of Charlotte and Stella Mulhearn, daughters of Travis and Amanda Mulhearn of Conway, who died five years apart of unrelated causes. Charlotte, 6 weeks, had a rare viral heart infection and died in 2007; Stella, 3, had a brain tumor and died in 2012. Even though neither situation had a happy ending, Amanda said her girls received “unmatched” care at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
Greeson was asked to join the Faulkner County Circle of Friends, but she had no connection to Arkansas Children’s Hospital at the time.
“They were just an amazing group of women” and a couple of men, she said.
Amanda asked Greeson to be the first race director in 2013 “because I was a runner, and I use that term loosely,” Greeson said.
“We thought it was going to be this little bitty race,” she said. However, 966 runners participated.
“We were just amazed at the overwhelming success we had,” Greeson said.
That year, Greeson became pregnant with twins. Greeson, who works at Bank of America, and her husband, Daniel, who owns Greeson Construction, also have two sons, Daniel, 11, and Peyton, 7.
“I’ve always said, from as little as I could be, that I wanted identical twin girls,” she said.
Her first two pregnancies were normal and healthy. Greeson said her pregnancy with the girls was difficult from the get-go.
She went into labor at 29 weeks and had to be on five weeks of bed rest. Then the babies didn’t come when it was time.
Her labor was induced, and the girls were born Sept. 17, 2013, in Little Rock.
While she was pregnant, Greeson had read about twin anemia polycythemia sequence, or TAPS, an “extremely rare” form of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, she said.
One of the signs of babies with TAPS, she said, is “when they’re born, one baby is very white, and one is very red,” she said. “Isabella was so red she was almost purple. As soon as I saw them, I said, ‘I think they have TAPS.’” The doctor didn’t agree.
Alexis was anemic, and Isabella had taken all the platelets into her blood, making it thick and hard on her heart.
The twins were released at 4 days old. She said the hospital told her “they were not sick enough” for the newborn intensive-care unit.
In all fairness, Greeson said, the hospital personnel might not ever have seen the condition that she believed the girls had.
Isabella weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces; Alexis weighed 5 pounds, 10 ounces. However, they each lost 2 pounds within four days of going home.
Greeson said that during her first appointment with a pediatrician at Conway Children’s Clinic, he agreed that the babies had twin anemia polycythemia sequence.
“We, by the grace of God, got lucky,” she said.
The pediatrician told Greeson that if the babies had been born 12 to 24 hours later, they would have been stillborn. “They were very close to not making it,” she said.
Alexis started bouncing back and gaining weight; Isabella did not.
Greeson said her pediatrician called every evening to see how the girls were doing, and she told him Isabella, who was 8 days old, would not eat.
He told her to take the baby to Arkansas Children’s Hospital, where the health care professionals immediately hooked Isabella up to monitors. She quit breathing at one point, Greeson said. She said doctors surmised that Isabella’s condition had led to a heart infection, and she was put on strong antibiotics.
“There’s no doubt if Children’s Hospital wasn’t 30 minutes down the road, I think Isabella would have passed away that evening,” she said.
Greeson said the doctors, nurses and even cafeteria workers took care of her entire family. They let Alexis
visit her sister every day, and the cafeteria employees made sure Greeson, who was breast-feeding, ate enough.
“The nurses were wonderful up there. They kind of walked you through everything,” she said.
Isabella was hospitalized for five days, which was tough, Greeson said, because she had three other children.
Her mother, Karil Clough, lives with them. “Thank God for my mom,” Greeson said.
Both girls are “extremely intelligent” and seem to be developing at the same pace, Greeson said. They attend a preschool program at First United Methodist Church.
“They seem fine — just a miracle. Now I have a personal connection to the hospital,” Greeson said.
Freezin’ for a Reason is the largest fundraiser in Faulkner County for Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Greeson said. The Mulhearns are “still heavily involved” in the race, too, she said.
Amanda Mulhearn said she is “convinced Karil [Greeson] has superpowers. She is a mother to four, works a
full-time job and runs this race without batting an eye.”
Mulhearn said the fact that Greeson did all the work involved in helping to make the race successful before she needed the hospital’s services “reveals her true nature and giving heart.”
“I truly cannot express how thankful and assured I am to have the race with such an adept leader,” Mulhearn said.
Greeson said people who don’t want to run or walk in the race can help by donating, or “you can register as a spirit runner online and get a T-shirt,” she said.
The goal is to have 700 participants and raise $40,000. Greeson said volunteers are needed for the day of the race.
To register, donate or sign up as a volunteer, go to www.freezin4areason.org.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.