Miracles can and do happen every day.
That is the mantra of the Dickau family.
Their difficult journey began more than a year ago when they were told if their unborn child made it to full term, he would be disabled and deformed.
“The main thing that they said was that his brain was attached to a blood clot and it was pulling it out of his skull. The one doctor there said that she was 99.9 per cent sure that he would not even be born,” says Eli’s father Joshua.
The doctors said even if, by some miracle, their son did survive until birth, he likely wouldn’t live more than a few days.
Eli’s parents – Rebecca and Joshua – decided to continue with their pregnancy, hoping and praying the medical experts would be wrong.
“I couldn’t go there, thinking about losing him,” says Rebecca. “I had to stay positive, and I had to believe for that miracle. I had to believe for the hope that he was going to be ok, as a mother I couldn’t give up hope on him.”
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Amazingly, everything started to go right.
At 32 weeks, Eli was born, in surprisingly good health even with a multitude of issues.
His skull wasn’t formed, exposing part of his brain.
He had a club foot, cleft palate and cleft lip, and his hands weren’t properly formed.
But all of that can be corrected.
In his first ten months of life, Eli has already had several surgeries and procedures.
“Seeing all the other babies in the NICU…there are tons of other babies that have so many problems, and you realize that so many other people have it maybe worse than you,” says Rebecca.
It hasn’t been easy to commute back and forth between their home in Armstrong and BC Children’s Hospital for countless appointments, especially with big sister Elitza in tow.
And their little fighter has more surgeries in his future.
But Eli is meeting all his developmental targets, and tests show completely normal brain activity.
And as the Dikaus celebrate their son’s first Christmas, they say never give up hope, even if the future looks bleak.
They have the .01 per cent to prove it.
“We are just blessed to have him,” says Joshua. “Some people might see him as a problem, because he has a lot of things that he is going to deal with throughout his life. It’s been such an amazing journey…we feel so honoured to be able to raise him.”
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