Nebraska
A 5-year-old boy was left alone in a hospital on the day of his heart surgery. His anesthesiologist adopted him.
Omaha, Nebraska — Surrounded by friends and family at his birthday party this week, 10-year-old True Beethe of Omaha, Nebraska, was on cloud nine, but his bliss had not come easy.
Back in 2022, at the age of 5, True needed a heart procedure for a serious congenital heart defect known as hypoplastic right heart syndrome.
He was under the care of social services at the time. On the day of the surgery, for an unknown reason, he was just dropped off at Children’s Nebraska, an Omaha children’s hospital.
Anesthesiologist Dr. Amy Beethe found him in pre-operative care.
“He was just sitting there all alone,” Beethe told CBS News. “No adult with him at all.”
True himself told CBS News he had “no idea” why he was alone. His case worker was sick with COVID that day, and True was transferred from a rehab hospital. It was unclear why no one else from social services was able to be with him.
The procedure lasted about seven hours, and through it all, Beethe said she just kept staring at the sweet face of the poor boy who, at that moment, had no mother, father or a stable home life.
That is when Beethe decided that, even though she already had six children, she just had to take in a seventh.
“After I dropped True off in recovery, I called my husband and I just said, ‘We need to have a talk when we get home. I need you to have an open mind,’” Beethe said.
Ryan Beethe said he was a little hesitant at first.
“But it didn’t take long to hear what was needed, and it just felt right,” Ryan Beethe said.
Dr. Jason Cole, a pediatric cardiologist and medical director of the Advanced Pediatric Heart Failure and Transplant Program at Children’s Nebraska, explained that True’s heart disease “is on the severe end of the spectrum,” and eventually his heart will fail and he will require a heart transplant.
“Without a successful, loving home life, a patient like True with extraordinarily complex congenital heart disease would not be able to survive,” Cole said. “To be even considered as a viable candidate for a heart transplant, you must be in a stable environment with consistent care so that the organ is not rejected.”
With that in mind, about 18 months later, the Beethe’s adoption of True was complete.
“So yeah, that’s how the story goes,” Amy Beethe said.
But it’s not how the story ends. Up until he was taken in by the Beethe family, True had been living with five other siblings in an unstable home environment. Amy knew she and Ryan couldn’t adopt all of them, so the good doctor decided to do the next best thing.
First, she got her sister and her husband to agree to adopt True’s sister TyLynn. Then her sister-in-law and her husband took in True’s sister Tyra.
Finally, she got a coworker and her husband to make Tacari and Malia part of their family.
“There was one left, and then I went back to my husband,” Amy Beethe said.
That’s how True’s sister Laney was adopted by the Beethe family, too.
And all of this because of a doctor who believed that saving lives wasn’t just her day job.
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – An active weather pattern is moving into the region starting tonight, bringing some snow into the region, according to KTIV’s forecast in Sioux City.
A First Alert 6 viewer sent footage of the storms while traveling on Interstate 80 near West Branch, Iowa.
TUESDAY NIGHT
In Siouxland, a batch of precipitation moves in after midnight. It could initially start as rain, but most of the precipitation will fall as snow. Snow showers will likely last through sunrise on Wednesday morning.
The snow will stay light with accumulations near an inch or less. This could create some slick spots on the Wednesday morning commute. Temperatures will probably fall a bit below the freezing mark.
Copyright 2026 WOWT. All rights reserved.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — UPDATE: Grand Island Police said around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday that the shelter in place order has been lifted .
GIPD said the item was retrieved by the Nebraska State Patrol Bomb Squad, who is investigating.
The area has also now been reopened.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The Grand Island Police Department has cordoned off a local block and is urging residents to shelter in place.
According to GIPD, officers responded to the 4300 block of Sherwood Road just before 2:00 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. A resident reported finding a suspicious cylindrical object wrapped in duct tape inside a home.
The Nebraska State Patrol Bomb Squad has been called to the scene to investigate the device.
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