Fostering, Adopting Teaches Beethe Family to be Open to Helping Others

Every year, the American Heart Association (AHA) selects one child to represent congenital heart disease. Earlier this year, True Beethe was chosen as the AHA Heart Ball Prince. He is the 10-year-old son of Ryan and Dr. Amy (Ebeler) Beethe of Omaha, who are natives of Tecumseh. True and his family were also chosen to share his story on multiple television stations, including a KETV television news broadcast.
True was adopted by Ryan and Amy Beethe on August 30, 2023 when he was seven years old. Amy became acquainted with True when he was a patient of hers in January 2022. Dr. Beethe is a  pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist and True came in for a heart catheterization.
“When I met him in pre-op, he was there by himself, which really pulled at my heart strings,” she said. At the time, True was staying at Madonna Rehab Center after having open heart surgery in the fall of 2021. Usually, Madonna would send someone to stay with him, but for whatever reason that day they just dropped him off. Amy was a licensed foster parent and she called his case worker, who had COVID at the time and was not allowed in the hospital. The case worker told Amy that she was struggling to find placement for True.
In fall 2021, True had open heart surgery. He was a ward of the state and was living with his biological maternal grandma. After his surgery, True had a prolonged hospital stay due to complications. His grandma didn’t come to visit him, therefore, Children’s Hospital didn’t want to discharge True to her. They set up for him to go to Madonna. That’s where he was in Jan 2022 when he came in for a follow up heart catheterization.   This was when True and Amy met for the first time.
“Throughout the whole seven hour surgery, I was contemplating if my family could handle a child with complex medical needs. I finally decided that we were going to say yes after I talked to my husband, and we went up to the hospital so Ryan could meet True,” said Amy. She mentioned that her husband, Ryan, the Director of Business Operations at Maxim Healthcare, usually supports her plans. “Fortunately, it didn’t take a lot of convincing. He agreed to meet True in the hospital and, after that, he was 100 percent on board with True being a part of our family.”
Amy recalled that there there weren’t many challenges among the family in the early stages after True’s adoption. “True and his siblings have done really well. We have struggled with catching his older siblings up in school.   However, overall they have done tremendously well.
“I think being foster parents have taught my biological children what the real world is all about,” said Amy. “Not every child, by no fault of their own, is fortunate to have a good social situation. It has taught the family that you are never too busy to help another human.
“True is like any other kid. He can’t do activities that are really strenuous, like soccer or basketball. However, he loves baseball, volleyball, and has recently started drum lessons. If you drive by my house there is a good chance true is driving his electric bike all over the neighborhood.
“I don’t know if there is a person on this Earth that doesn’t get along with True. He is kind and genuine. While I can’t paint a picture of a perfect and serene family, I can honestly say that every one loves and supports one another.”
Amy explained that once the Beethe family took True home from the hospital, he would always talk about wanting to see his siblings. Therefore, Amy contacted his social worker who was able to arrange a meeting between the six of them.
“True definitely gets to see his biological siblings.   I always tell people that they are like a hybrid between siblings and cousins. Although they can’t see each other every day, they are definitely in each others lives.”
True gets a heart catheterization every year to follow up with how his heart is doing. Eventually, he will need a heart transplant. “We don’t know when that time will be; however, the heart caths will tell us how his heart is doing and give us a good indication of when the best time would be to place him on the heart transplant list.”
Amy hopes that this story encourages others to give foster care a chance.
“It is hard, but I can say that it is the best decision I have made for my family. I think everyone acknowledges that the foster system is broken; however, if more people stepped up to help it would cause a butterfly effect of kindness that would change generations,” Beethe concluded.