Couple Adopts Baby Who Was Born 'Without A Brain' And Showered Her With Deep Love And Affection Right Until The Very End

April 16, 2019

What happens when you've looked forward to something for so long only for things to turn out to be much different than you had hoped? Do you turn back around or simply go with the flow? This couple chose to go with the latter even though it left them experiencing a roller-coaster of emotions.

Adopting Ava

Josh and Allison Lewis have a big family and they do not have a single regret. The couple has four biological and three adopted children. While there have been ups and downs, one of the most powerful, yet heartbreaking ordeals the pair has experience started when they decided to adopt Sam and Ava.

In 2016, Allison shared a story on her Facebook page about how they came to adopt the twins. In October 2015, the couple got a call from their adoption attorney, telling them that a mom in labor was looking to give up her child for adoption.

Josh and Allison immediately left what they were doing, packed a few things and began their 10-hour trip to see their baby. On their way, their adoption attorney called again and shocked the parents, telling them that the birth mom was actually expecting not one, but two babies.

Even though it wasn't what they expected, Josh and Allison knew there was no way they would adopt one child and leave the other. But that was not all. During their journey, another call came in from the attorney who told them that one of the babies would not survive.

By the time they got to the hospital, they met a healthy baby boy but his sister was struggling to stay alive.

When we finally arrived, we found a small, but healthy, baby boy cuddling with the nurses on the postpartum floor. but in NICU lay a precious three-pound darling whom we would soon find out was born without a brain.

The doctors explained that it was okay if the couple chose not to take the sick baby since it was not what they signed up for. But Allison and Josh knew that even though that child was not perfect, she was still their baby.

Fighting to survive

In the weeks that followed, the couple showed their newborn twins nothing but love and affection. Ava Leigh Lewis, a baby who doctors said might not survive being born, finally got to go home after spending 44 days in the hospital.

Because she was born with only a brain stem and not a brain, Ava had a lot of medical problems. The family knew they would not have her for too long but this little girl was a fighter. Instead of focusing on how much time they had left with her, they simply enjoyed having her in the family.

The good days came with the bad. Because of her condition, Ava often suffered pain and seizures. Every time this happened, the parents worried that it was going to be her last day.

Speaking to Independent Journal Review, Allison explained that she and her husband knew caring for Ava would be challenging. They understood that things would have perhaps been easier if the baby was left to live out her days in the NICU as the doctors offered. It would have been easy to walk away.

But the parents also knew that this baby deserved a chance at life. They had no clue what the future held but they strongly felt Ava deserved to have a family.

Sadly, on May 19, 2016, seven months after she was born, Ava passed away.

Moving past the grief

Speaking to Independent Journal Review after Ava's passing, Allison described the emotions as 'happysad.'

They were heartbroken that the little girl was no longer with them but they took comfort in the fact that she was healed and whole now "in the presence of her Creator."