Touching Birth Video, Photos Show Glen Ellyn Native With Stage 4 Cancer Meet His Son for First Time

For most expectant fathers, the option to witness the birth of your child is typically a given. But for Glen Ellyn native Cagney Wenk, 26, the circumstances were not quite so simple when his fiance Jessica Li went into labor in recent weeks.

Wenk was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma brain cancer a month ago after going to the doctor for a headache, his sister, Marissa Wenk, told Patch. He received the diagnosis just weeks before the family’s first baby was due.

Wenk, who moved to Colorado after graduating from Glenbard West High School, was in the intensive care unit at Boulder Community Hospital when Li went into labor in mid-September. The staff at the hospital had a plan in place to transport Wenk from the ICU to the delivery room to make sure he was able to witness the birth of his son and cut his son’s cord. He came with his medicine, all of his medical equipment and his ICU nurse.

And the hospital staff did not stop there.

As Wenk was recovering from brain surgery in the weeks before the birth, his nurses reached out to Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep ― an organization that takes pictures for parents suffering the loss of a baby — to see if it would take photos of Wenk with his newborn, the Huffington Post reports. Colorado photographer and videographer Sarah Boccolucci volunteered her services and captured an emotional video and several photos of the birth.

The expression on Wenk’s face when the family’s healthy baby boy was born is priceless. Levon Robbie Wenk entered the world at 2:12 a.m. on Sept. 18.

After Levon was born, hospital staff brought Li and Wenk’s beds right next to each other so the couple could be closer and could experience their first moments together with their baby, according to Boccolucci's video. The couple was able to hold hands and take turns holding the baby. One particular poignant part of the video shows Wenk gripping Levon's little hand and saying, "look at his little handshake."

“We have all the love in the world in this room right now,” Wenk said in the video.

Wenk grew up in Glen Ellyn with his mother, father and two sisters. He was a drummer for the marching band at Glenbard West.

The family is hopeful he will recover.

He is currently undergoing chemotherapy and radiation and underwent three brain surgeries just in the weeks before Levon’s birth. One of the surgical procedures, a craniotomy, involved doctors temporarily removing a portion of the skull to relieve pressure, according to the Huffington Post.

Marissa Wenk of Chicago said she is hopeful he will be out of the ICU and pain- free so he can spend some more time making memories with his son.

The family has set up an online fundraising page, which has so far brought in nearly $30,000, to help pay for medical treatment and hospital bills, food, housing and help with the costs associated with the family’s new baby since Wenk will not be able to work.

The video produced by Sarah Boccolucci Photography + Birth Services of Levon's birth has been viewed more than 90,000 times on YouTube. And a post on the photographer's Facebook page has been shared nearly 400 times. She hopes the attention to her photos and video will help raise money for the family.

For those interested in donating, you can do so on the Cagney Wenk GoForward fundraising page.

Photo and video credit: Sarah Boccolucci Photography + Birth Services