“They told me it was impossible, they said she is going to be stillborn or she will only live to be a month or two months old,” says Jessica Reddy.
Jessica and Justin Reddy and their family spent over a month at the NICU at Strong Hospital when Maylynn Joanne Reddy came into the world on June 20, 2018.
Doctors told Jessica and Justin that Maylynn would not make it to birth.
“Her being here is a miracle, I never thought I would be here, this isn’t what I pictured this is an amazing celebration, its incredible.”
On Saturday afternoon, Jessica and Justin Reddy and their whole family enjoyed a photo session at Darien Lakes State Park thanks to God Winks Inc., who gives families facing life threatening situations the opportunity to have professional family portraits taken together at no charge.
https://godwinksinc.org/?fbclid=IwAR0ab_qSQqt5PkcNdwZhJdOymySMekbBKcEpKVJEeVy37JOEX0CRq_DgBGI
On June 20, 2019, Maylynn will be 1 years old.
“When I saw the amount of people that saw the original story on Video News Service it was just an unbelievable amount of people that said a prayer, sending love, I was overwhelmed,” says Laurie Stephenson, Maylynn’s Grandma.
“I think she is only here today because of the support and the prayers that were sent and I would like to thank everybody.”
At 36 weeks pregnant, Jessica Reddy and her husband Justin found out that baby Maylynn had fluid in her brain and holoprosencephaly, a disorder where the forebrain of the embryo fails to develop into two hemispheres, this can cause defects in the development of the face and in the brain structure and function. As a result, Maylynn also has a cleft lip and pallet, however they did not know the severity until she was born.
In July of 2018, Maylynn was able to come home after doctors performed surgery to install a G-tube, that was inserted through the abdomen, it enables nutrition to be directly delivered to the stomach. Jessica also gives Maylynn her medication through the tube.
Maylynn’s first 6 months at home went well and she did not have to go to the hospital at all. Recently however, she has been in an out of the hospital.
She has been intubated four times, most recently this past Easter.
“On Easter she threw up and it all went into her lungs and while they were trying to intubate her, after five attempts, she coded and for 8 seconds she was completely gone. So now she is looking at getting a tracheal tube so that will extend her quality of life .”
Jessica says Maylynn’s seizures are better controlled and she now only gets 5-10 a day as opposed to having them continuous.
During therapy she has also been able to paddle a raddle and has been able to pet their family dog JJ,who is always looking over his three girls.
“She has so much energy, so much personality, she is definitely there. They told me she would just be a body and she wouldn’t know who you are, but she does. She tracks me when I get home. She can sit up on her own and hold her head up and all this is incredible stuff, and they said it was impossible, but here we are, all excited gotta share the moment.”
“She’s got the most awesome mom,” says Stephenson.
“She just knows what she’s doing, where she’s going and what she’s going to do next.”
Jessica says they still don’t know what to expect each day, they could wake up and she could be gone, she says she is not out of the woods yet.
“To have this much time with her is a godsend, more than we ever expected.”
“Just always have hope, don’t let people tell you what’s going to happen, just let it happen and what comes with it comes with it. Just because somebody somewhere says its impossible doesn’t mean it is.”