An inspirational girl with a severe form of spina bifida beat the odds and defied doctors’ expectations as she learned how to walk at the age of three.
Despite her mum being advised to get an abortion because her child would most likely be paralyzed her entire life, 3-year-old Harper-Mae has already proved her doctors wrong as she learned how to walk with a smile on her face.
As 37-year-old Erica Ardolino-Comparin from Florida explained, she was told her child would be born with myeloschisis, a severe version of spina bifida aperta, during her 18-week scan.
While the expert opinion wasn’t of much comfort to the mother, she continued her pregnancy and refused to have an abortion as advised by one of her doctors.
In 2016, little Harper-Mae was born paralyzed with little chance that she would ever walk. However, following several surgeries and intense physical therapy, the girl’s mobility started improving.
After learning how to walk with a walker, Harper-Mae provided her parents and physical therapists with the hope that she would one day walk unassisted.
Some three years after she was born, the girl surprised the world by beating the odds by learning how to walk without a walker.
Speaking of the time she learned her daughter has spina bifida, mother Erica said:
“We were devastated when we were advised to terminate the pregnancy. It felt like we had just lost our child even though we hadn’t.
“Even when we told the doctor we were choosing not to go ahead with the option to terminate, he proceeded to give us this option multiple times afterwards and even let me know that if I were his wife he would tell her the same thing.”
Fortunately, however, the couple never gave up on Harper-Mae and now couldn’t be any happier with their decision to bring the girl into this world and help her achieve the impossible.
“Watching Harper’s progress and her showing that she is more than a medical diagnosis makes us extremely proud,” Erica added.
“Whilst growing up with spina bifida isn’t always the easiest and certainly has its ups and downs, Harper has been able to live life just like a normal three-year-old little girl.”
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to SHARE this post with your family and friends and follow us on Facebook for more news and stories!
Replaced!