Doctors initially told Cortney and Peyton Noland that there was no chance their baby girl would survive.
But the little Ohio girl survived, defying doctors’ concerns about death and severe disabilities. Willow is 20 months old now, and her parents said doctors no longer believe she will have disabilities or significant delays in her development.
Her mother told the newspaper:
“It took her a few months of catching up, and then spring hit and she just started crawling and walking, and she took off,” Mrs. Noland said. “She’s pretty crazy now. She is nonstop on the go.”
In a few months, perhaps, the only remnant of Willow’s ordeal will be her surgery scars.
“I used to hate the scars … because they just reminded me of all the sad nights and the hard nights of waiting in the OR room and waiting outside her room to see if she’s going to survive,” Mrs. Noland said. “But now, I look at them and I’m like, ‘This is just proof of what you can overcome, what you can take.’”
The Noland family faced a series of painful ordeals around the time of Willow’s birth.
According to the report:
The Ashville couple was told Willow had sepsis, an intestinal disease and a lung disorder. Doctors told them she would need surgery.
She underwent four in total as she spent 236 days in neonatal intensive care.
Along the way, doctors continued to ask the Nolands if they wanted to withdraw care. If they wanted to simply let Willow die.
They would not.
And Willow survived. And thrived.
“She really is a miracle,” Mrs. Noland said.
Source: Born at 22 Weeks and Weighing 1 Pound 5 Ounces, Willow Was Not Expected to Survive | LifeNews.com
