Touched By A Miracle

Tedd & Noah

The Best Hug

January 5, 2009, days before we even would ever know if Noah would get a chance to ever come home, I received my first story of hope in a miracle. A lady by the name of Judy received Noah's story from Chris Vanderveen, a news reporter at channel 9 news. The news reporter had done a story on her daughter's survival and recovery and put her in touch with our information. A story that started more than twenty-years before Noah's birth. A little girl named Jessica was born. At the time the neonatologist had pronounced Jessica dead, she had been brain dead and without a heartbeat for 45 minutes. Ten minutes after pronouncing her dead, with all oxygen and respirator having been removed, a doctor seen Jessica blink her eyes and he attempted to resuscitate her.

They gave her surviving daughter a very poor prognosis. They believed that she would be so neurologically impaired that she wouldn't be able to even suck her thumb, she could not swallow, they fed her by gavage method. Institutions were suggested to her parents, she had seizures and her muscle tone was poor. Her development was very delayed and she didn't track with her eyes. Little Jessica went on to have two cardiac arrests and seven neurosurgeries, she has hydrocephalus, and a shunt in her brain and also had a portion of the temporal and hippocampus portion of her brain removed to stop uncontrolled seizures. If that wasn't enough, Jessica also had a arachnoid cyst removed that was crushing her brain, and had pneumothorax in each lung because her parents chose to keep her alive with a respirator after she was resuscitated.

Although Jessica had many trials and difficult times in her growing years, she is now an an independent adult. Today Jessica has her Master's Degree, a full-time job, and lives in Las Vegas. And I had the privilege of meeting this Miracle for the very first time at Noah's Pasta Dinner Buffet. She traveled all the way from Las Vegas, and came with her entire family to Noah's Fundraising Dinner. She is beautiful, her personality radiates a room. She is so very loving, sweet and kind, not an ounce of bitterness resides in her heart for all those years of her personal struggles. You cannot detect that Jessica ever had the start that she did. She is what miracles are all about.

Having two very special people in one room, two that were not supposed to survive, two miracles years apart. I can only hope that twenty-years from now Noah's story will have the same effect on another mother just as Judy's story of her daughter, Jessica has had on me. That Noah will continue to grow and surpass all odds, that he too will one day be living independently, and successful in everything he wishes to accomplish.

It was so wonderful to see so many at Noah's Pasta Buffett, there are so many that I didn't know that came that gave of their hearts and time for a little boy named Noah. I wish I would have had an opportunity to thank everyone individually that came for him. And to even thank all of those who weren't able to come but continue to pray and think of our family always. Because of all of you, we're able to make our first deposit in paying for his sensory classes and warm water therapy. We could not have given Noah this opportunity without all of your love and support. We will be forever grateful to each and every heart out there that gave to help him.

Noah got a very special treat, and was held by Tedd, one of the owner's of the Blue Canyon Grill. Tedd is tremendously tall and Noah loved being up so high. He cuddled and hugged Tedd as if he were his very best friend. It was beautiful on so many levels. To watch Noah have the ability to hug, and to know that he was in the arms of a forever friend.

Tedd and Jolynn at the Blue Canyon have hearts of gold. They were so loving and even made sure each child that came last night to Noah's Dinner had a desert. I don't think either of them truly realizes how special they are. But they are the most amazing couple, and we love them dearly. None of this would have been possible without their incredible hearts.

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
~ Albert Pike

Love,

Noah's Miracle by Stacy Warden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.