Being part of a dual military couple can be challenging, but it gets even harder when raising three young boys. When the youngest member of the Stevens family needed medical treatment, the entire family left their duty station in Germany to be with young Caleb in Bethesda, Maryland. Fisher House eased the burdens so the family could focus on his wellness.
Army Sgt. Amber Lynne Guzman met her partner, Air Force Master Sgt. Charles “Jake” Stevens, while they were each stationed in Sembach, Germany. The couple started a lovely family that has grown with the addition of three energetic young boys. Like many dual-military families, the young couple came from very different parts of the country.
Amber grew up on a Navajo reservation in Arizona and was the first in her family to join the military. She left for initial training just two weeks after graduating high school, taking her to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina before her current duty station. Jake, originally from Alabama, works in security forces.
In June of 2024, Amber and Jake learned that their newborn son Caleb was diagnosed with sagittal craniosynostosis, leading to a long trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
“My son, at two months, he was diagnosed with sagittal craniosynostosis. So that's when the skull is too fused together at any stage of being an infant,” said Amber.
“So his was down the middle of the skull. That’s the sagittal. And then, at two months we were told we had to come here. When he did his CT scan here, they found another fusing on the side,” she continued. “They did two incisions, one at the very center of the head, and then one just a little above.
So, two incisions. They went in and stripped the skull and removed that strip. So now he has that little separation. And then the same thing on the side, which was right above his ear. So, there’s another incision there. And they had to remove a little strip again right there.”
The entire family made the journey to Walter Reed so Caleb could receive care. After a month, Jake returned to Germany so that 8-year-old Aiden could attend school while Amber remained with Caleb and their 3-year-old, Michael. Throughout their time in Bethesda, they were able to stay at Fisher House.
“[Fisher House] helped us not go into a financial strain. We don’t have to be in debt because of lodging or having to eat out every day. We're able to cook here, so it’s really nice.”
For Amber, it was the other families that brought the most comfort.
“We don’t really spend much time in the room. It’s just when the babies need a nap. There was another family here, we used to make dinner with each other, or we would take turns making dinner and we’d have dinner together. Now we just hang out in the living room, watch TV. Some of the other families come down and then we will hang out with each other,” she said.
“We’ll exchange stories of what we've been through. Or there's a family here from Spain, so we compare Spain and Europe, Germany together. So it’s really interesting.”
