Doctors wanted to give Veronica Williams one last chance to hold her newborn child before her heart failed her.
It was March, and the Kentucky mother had just given birth by emergency cesarean section to a premature baby girl. As doctors fought to save both their lives, they made the difficult decision to give the two a moment together, thinking it may be their last, WCPO News reports.
Then a miracle happened.
Veronica’s condition suddenly improved when her baby was placed in her arms. Now, both mother and daughter are home and doing well, the family told the local news station.
“We believe God performed a true miracle by His power and through the many wonderful medical professionals who worked tirelessly treating Veronica,” her father-in-law, Sean Williams, wrote on a Go Fund Me page to help cover the family’s medical bills.
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His son, also named Sean, described how traumatic that time in March was as he wondered whether his wife or daughter would survive.
Veronica was 32 weeks pregnant, and she had been struggling with shortness of breath and a rapid heart rate, her father-in-law explained. Later, at St. Elizabeth Edgewood Hospital, doctors diagnosed her with a rare, life-threatening form of myocarditis in which her immune system was attacking her heart, the family told the local news.
On March 9, doctors performed an emergency cesarean section, and baby Brooklynn was born eight weeks early. Together, two teams of doctors – one a heart team, the other neonatal – worked to save the mother’s and baby’s lives, according to the report.
Dr. George Christensen said Veronica’s heart was “completely weak from the inflammation” and stopped at one point. Meanwhile, her daughter was receiving breathing assistance in the neo-natal intensive care unit because her lungs were not fully developed, the report continues.
Then, doctors decided to bring Brooklynn to her mother, thinking it might be their last moment together. The baby girl’s presence made all the difference in the world.
Here’s more from the report:
“They brought her up to me…when they weren’t sure if I was gonna make it or not, and they laid her in my arms,” Veronica said. “I don’t remember it, but they did do that.”
“It was probably a moment none of us will ever forget — just the vital sign reactions of mom and baby,” St. Elizabeth NICU Manager Keri Hinson said.
According to the caregivers, at that moment, those vital signs improved.
Lindsay Calderon, cardiac surgery recovery nurse manager, remembered that moment.
“And I don’t think there was a dry eye in the station,” Calderon told the local news. “And getting to actually watch it, and be a part of it … was an amazing feeling.”
Veronica had to undergo multiple open-heart surgeries, and both she and Brooklynn spent several weeks in the hospital; but they made it home in time to celebrate Mother’s Day, her father-in-law said.
The family is doing well, but Sean Williams asked people to continue to pray for his daughter-in-law’s complete healing. The family also expressed gratitude to all the doctors and nurses who helped Veronica and Brooklynn survive.
“First of all, the family still needs your prayers as the doctors say it will be a marathon, not a sprint, for Veronica to recover fully. However, we trust that God will restore her just as He healed her,” he wrote.
To donate to the family, visit their Go Fund Me page.
