A baby born in New Jersey this past March was missing a big chunk of his skull and his brain was exposed. Doctors warned his parents that if he survived delivery he would probably not live more than a day. Maria and Augusto Santa Maria found out about their baby’s condition called exencephaly, when she was just 10 weeks pregnant. Because the baby was not likely to survive, doctors highly recommended terminating the pregnancy, but the Santa Marias refused. Doctors warned them that of all the children ever born in the world none had survived more than a week!
Defying all probability, baby Lucas did survive that first day and his health improved. At this point he was still unable to be held by his parents and so they asked Dr. Tim Vogel to perform a groundbreaking surgery. Vogel said his definition of a success for this would be to allow the parents to hold their baby once before he died. They said they were willing to pay for it and believed God would do far more than that.
They not only got to hold their son, but only a week after the surgery, the miracle baby was so well that the hospital sent him home with his family!
Today, baby Lucas is seven months old, living at home with his family, and is doing great. His dad says; “There's no script to follow. The Doctors no longer know what to tell us on how to work with Lucas because they have never seen this before. We're all trying to figure it out as we go, but God is so faithful. Every moment that we have with Lucas is a total blessing.”
Dr Vogel says "Lucas has more than exceeded our expectations, he shattered them! He’s eating,trying to crawl, getting physical therapy. We are all learning so much from him! Lucas is going to be with me for a long time. Every time I see him, it’s just so encouraging.”