‘Pain has a purpose’

PERRYSBURG, Ohio – Told that his unborn son had only half a heart and little chance to survive, the lead singer of the Christian rock band Sanctus Real began pouring his fears and doubts into music.

The songs were meant to comfort his family while they searched for answers and sought to understand God’s role during the months before and after the baby’s birth that were filled with surgeries and life-threatening complications.

What came out of the heartache was “Every Falling Tear,” a solo album that’s meant to touch and console during the hardest of times.

“People want to know that their pain has a purpose,” said Matt Hammitt, one of the founding members of Sanctus Real, a band with two Grammy-nominated albums since 2008.

Hammitt and his wife, Sarah, knew something was wrong minutes after finding out during an ultrasound in April 2010 that their third child would be a boy, following two girls. They saw the sorrow on their doctor’s face even before she spoke.

Doctors later confirmed the baby had a rare congenital heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which causes the left side of the heart to be severely underdeveloped.

Hammitt, 32, decided he needed to tell God how he was feeling, so he started writing songs about their journey.

“I began writing about all that I was learning about struggle and faith,” he said.

Each song tells of a moment or a series of events leading to the baby’s birth – there’s a father’s fear of holding back his love for a son he may never know and a mother’s hope of finding peace in the midst of despair.

“I wanted to write songs that would speak to him someday about how much his father loved him no matter how long or short his life would be,” Hammitt said, his voice trailing off.

The album released in September was his first solo work.

Bowen Matthew Hammitt was born on Sept. 9, 2010. His first open heart surgery came four days later and the next night he went into cardiac arrest. A team of doctors and nurses spent an hour performing CPR until they were able to revive him and get him on life support.

Complications and a stroke kept him in the hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich., for just over two months.

While there, the couple played demos of the songs Hammitt had written “so Bowen could hear his dad’s voice,” his wife said.

“Originally I just wanted them recorded for us at the hospital,” he said. “I realized they’re meant to comfort other people too.”

Bowen, who turned 1 in September, faces one more surgery now slated for 2013 to repair his heart. Eventually, he’ll likely need a new heart before he reaches middle age.

“We know at any moment things could change even though he’s stable now,” Sarah said. “It’s ultimately God’s will.”