Vanellope Hope Wilkins looks like any other almost-one-month-old baby would: delightfully soft to touch, blushing pink in skin colour and sweetly squinting through her blue newborn eyes.
But this picture of peace and tranquillity is a far cry from where Vanellope, and her loving parents, Naomi and Dean, of Nottinghamshire in the UK stood just weeks ago.
According to The Guardian, during Naomi’s nine-week scan, she and Dean were shocked to discover that their little girl had something called ectopia cordis, a condition that saw Vanellope’s heart and a part of her stomach growing outside of her body.
Vanellope thriving post-surgery.
Despite being advised by doctors to terminate the pregnancy, Naomi and Dean decided against it.
Born prematurely on November 22, Vanellope, who is named after a Disney princess, faced three surgeries that doctors never expected to her to survive.
Now, three weeks later, Vanellope’s surgeries survived her surgeries in what experts are saying is the only case in the UK where a baby has survived such a condition.
“I lost hope a few times, if she didn’t move I’d say: ‘Has she moved today?’ and then, the next thing, she’d suddenly move and you’d go: ‘Oh she’s heard me,” says Naomi of the seconds, minutes, hours after Vanellope’s birth.
“I felt guilty for thinking negative thoughts because here she is fighting, and there was I, about to give up. I’m glad I stuck to my guns not to terminate though, I’m so glad.”
Naomi and Dean with brave Vanellope.
Here’s wishing Vanellope a super-speedy recovery!
h/t The Guardian
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