Son’s life ‘a miracle’

Ver Hoef Automotive in Sioux Center and its owners, Kembe and Kathy Hulstein, are proud to be the presenting sponsor of the Guiding Star Siouxland’s 2025 Gala coming up 6:30 p.m. Friday, March 7!

 “We believe any organization that supports choosing life, whether that be birth of their own child or through avenues of adoption, is so valuable,” Kathy said. “We believe that because of our faith in God but also because of our own son, who is 100 percent a walking, living, breathing miracle.”

Stetson Hulstein is Kembe and Kathy’s fifth child – a boy after having four girls: Savanna Sierra, Jazmine, and Rosette.

At 22 years old, he’s set to graduate in May from South Dakota State University with a degree in architecture, planning a June 21 wedding and anticipating his 23rd birthday July 5, before continuing on at SDSU next fall as he and his fiance pursue their master’s education in architecture.

He’s come a long way from the 35-week ultrasound at which Kathy and her husband were told their child may be “incompatible with life” due to a tumor found at the back of his brain.

“I could feel him move inside me. Everything up until that point felt like a regular pregnancy,” Kathy said. “We did the ultrasound because I had a history of large and early babies so we were getting a baseline to see where we were at. When the tech got to his head, she kept going and going to the point where I was sore. Then she said she was going to get the doctor and I burst into tears. I said this isn’t good.”

A specialist, not Kathy’s regular doctor, came in and started doing the ultrasound. He didn’t say much other than he would meet the couple in their doctor’s office. 

“Walking into that room, they were facing us as we sat down and we were told that because of the tumor, our child was probably not compatible with life,” Kathy said. “I don’t really remember anything else about that moment. I just know we went home and I was deeply torn. I do remember it was a Friday.”

Kathy’s sister stepped in and began researching pediatric neurologists.

“She knew our family would want to give our child the best chances for life possible so she did some research and said the pediatric neurologist with the best credentials was in Minneapolis,” Kathy said.

The couple called their doctor on a Monday and made care  arrangements for their four daughters and dogs while they went up Wednesday and prepared for a long-term stay at Abbot Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.

“We got up there June 21 (2002) pregaring not to come home with a baby and now 23 years later that’s my son’s wedding day,” Kathy said. “It’s truly amazing to think about.”

Leading up to Stetson’s birth, Kathy underwent various tests and ultrasounds.

“‘He’ll most likely blind.’ ‘He probably won’t make any respiratory effort.’ ‘He may not live long.’ It’s hard to say how hard it was to hear those things,” Kathy said. “I wanted to give my child the best life he could have with what he might have so we stayed, we got a tour of the children’s hospital next door as that’s where we thought he’d go. We couldn’t go very far in case I went into labor because I have quick deliveries.”

That was the case with her son, too. Within four hours of inducing contractions, her 8 pounds, 2 ounce son was born about noon July 5, 2002, and whisked away immediately into another room .

“Truly, I was excited to have a son, but it was also a very traumatic experience, the unknowns of that time,” Kathy said. “They brought him back a little while later and I was able to hold him for a couple of minutes before they whisked him away in this large incubator. They actually rolled him past my whole family – there was an entire room of my family, our pastor and his wife, friends; the whole waiting room was full of people got to see him as they stopped to let them peak at him as well.”

Because Stetson was acting stable, the planned immediate MRI happened at the end of day instead. The doctor came with good and bad news – the good news was that the tumor is between his brain and skull, not inside his brain. The bad news – it was the largest tumor the doctor had ever seen in an infant. It was 9 cm long, shaped like an upside down light bulb and it was separating hemispheres of Stetson’s brain.

“But our son could see and hear and was acting stable so they were not going to do surgery yet. They were going to wait,” Kathy said. “I got to hold him and though he had a lot of wires around him, he wasn’t intubated. He was breathing on his own.”

By day two, she got to nurse him. By day three Kathy and her husband were able to room with their son. By day four, the doctor said they could take their son home.

“That was a total shock,” Kathy said. “We saw the wires coming off, I was nursing him but still, to be able to take him home after coming to the hospital thinking we would not be bringing home a child was incredible. We had nothing – no car seat, no clothes with us. Friends brought up our car seat but the day we left, we literally went from a hospital to JCPenny to buy him boy clothes. It was quite exciting because I had my son and got to buy boy clothes for the first time ever.”

Stetson had to return every four weeks for a CAT scan. An MRI at 3 months old indicated the tumor had shrunk a bit. Another at 6 months old showed the tumor was one-third of its original size. At 12 months old the tumor was almost nonexistent.

“The doctor had never seen this before, such reversal of a tumor,” Kathy said. “My son is a miracle. A walking, living, breathing miracle. At the time of the news to be honest it was hard to believe. It’s what we prayed for, what we hoped for, but so hard to believe in that moment. It was a lot to take in. We honestly didn’t talk about it much when he was growing up, but as I reflect on it today, I know he’s 100 percent a gift.”