After Unspeakable Loss, Derby Dad Runs To Raise Awareness Of 'CDH'

Neil Connery (contributed photo)

DERBY — The day Derby residents Neil and Cynthia Connery found out the gender of their first baby in 2016 was also the day they received a devastating diagnosis.

At the couple’s 20-week ultrasound, they not only learned they were going to have a baby boy, but that the baby was diagnosed with a rare birth defect, with no known cause, called Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, or CDH.

The condition occurs in 1 out of about 2,500 pregnancies. Babies born with the birth defect do not have a properly-formed diaphragm, which prevents lung development.

Gavin Connery was born on Nov. 8, 2016 and passed away on Jan. 18, 2017. The couple spent 72 days in the neonatal intensive care unit at Boston Children’s Hospital, giving their baby boy all the love in the world.

The loss of Gavin was devastating. The Connerys couldn’t leave their house, let alone see a path forward.

The couple found solace by walking on the track at Emmett O’Brien Technical High School.

We were in a really sad place,” Neil Connery said. But when we went to the track, just the two of us, we thought about Gavin. We kept going back to the track a few times each week. And then I started running. Running is hard, but Gavin pushed me to do it.”

Neil Connery, a 2001 graduate of Derby High School, said running helped him to slowly crawl out of depression.

It was completely therapeutic for me,” he said.

In 2017, the Connerys started a foundation in their son’s honor. The goal is to raise awareness about CDH and funds to help with research.

CHD is just not well-known, and we want to do what we can to continue Gavin’s legacy,” Neil Connery said.

Because he found a connection between running and his son, Neil Connery began participating in various marathons and half-marathons to raise funds for The Gavin Connery Foundation.

The 39-year-old Connery is gearing up for yet another run next month.

He will run the Eversource Hartford Marathon on Oct. 8, where he will be part of the 2022 Team Inspiration.

The Inspiration Team is a beloved tradition that brings a small sampling of some amazing participant stories to light,” Hartford Marathon Foundation CEO Beth Shluger said in an email to The Valley Indy. It’s a wonderful opportunity to highlight people that have dedicated time and efforts to power through challenges; they inspire us to do our best to celebrate their achievements and all of those who cross the finish line on race day.”

Neil Connery said running has given him a platform to share the Foundation’s mission. He has taken part in Spartan races with his buddies, raced around the Mets’ Citi Field and ran a few half marathons with his brother-in-law, proud to wear the Team Gavin” logo on his shirt.

The proud dad to his second born son, Beau Gavin Connery, 4, said he’s excited to try to beat his best time during the 13.1‑mile race in Hartford, and has been training hard since July, running 30 miles a week.

Neil hopes to finish this race at around 1 hour, 40 minutes (his fastest to date is 1 hour, 42 minutes). But his true goal is much more important.

We just want to help other families to not have to go through with what we did in losing Gavin,” he said. We had a totally normal pregnancy, and we didn’t find out that there was something wrong until the 20-week ultrasound. We just want to help figure out why.”

The Connerys have donated about $5,000 each year since the foundation was created, to Columbia University to help fund a genetic study in hopes of someday finding a cause or a cure for CDH.

CDH is something that even the children that survive it don’t have an easy road ahead of them; a simple common cold can land them back in the hospital,” Neil said.

Neil is a nurse practitioner at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and his wife, Cynthia, is an operations manager for a real estate firm. They live in Derby with their son, Beau Gavin Connery, 4.

Anyone who’d like to donate to the Gavin Connery Foundation can visit https://gavinconnery.com/.

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