This Baby Was Not Supposed to Live, But a Miracle Took Place When She Was Taken Off the Ventilator

21 Feb, 2015 by Rachel Alexander

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Sarah Rodriguez had already lost her husband to cancer. After giving birth to a baby girl, Ellis, she thought she was about to lose her too. Ellis contracted bacterial meningitis in December when she was just two weeks old.

According to The Blaze,

“They told me, ‘It’s worse than we ever thought,’” she said of the day before doctors decided to remove life support. They said there was profound damage to Ellis’ brain. “I took that whole rest of the day and I said, ‘All right, I’m going to say goodbye.’ I cut locks of her hair. I painted her hands and did handprints and footprints.”

Rodriguez, 33, who lost her husband, Joel, to kidney cancer in 2013, was left with no other choice but to take the child — a baby she had barely had the opportunity to get to know — off of life support just one month after her birth.

She walked out of the bathroom, mentally prepared to say goodbye. But as doctors removed Ellis from life support, allowing the grieving mother to hold and comfort her baby, Rodriguez said something miraculous happened.

Ellis began breathing on her own, which medical professionals previously told her would be highly unlikely.

“For the first hour I was rocking her. I read her a story, because I had never gotten the opportunity to give her a story,” she said. “I’m giving her permission to leave. I was telling her, ‘You get to meet your daddy today’ — [trying] to make transition as peaceful as it could be.”

Rodriguez took Ellis to several follow-up appointments, where she appeared to have no brain damage whatsoever. One doctor told Rodriguez the girl is “absolutely laughing in the face of medicine.” Rodriguez believes it is a miracle and said the name “Ellis” came to her in a dream before the baby was born. It means “Jehovah is God.” Her wonderful story is at journeyofsarah.com and a GoFundMe account has raised over $33,000 for medical funds.