Almost everybody who knew her told Lisa Smiley that she should get an abortion a few years back after she discovered that her unborn baby was suffering from Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, which meant that he would be born with only half a heart.
Lisa and her husband James were against abortion, and that was why they were adamant in keeping Ezekiel "Zeke" Smiley, no matter how difficult it might be to raise him.
"We had already told them we are against abortion, no matter how serious our son's condition was, yet they were not satisfied and thought we were being idealistic," Smiley writes in an article for Life Site News.
Doctors told them that they would be burdened with "pain and suffering" if they decided to continue with Zeke's childbirth, and there was a huge risk that he would eventually die. However, Lisa and James held their ground.
"Now our convictions would be tested in real life," she says.
Lisa was not mistaken. After Zeke was born, he was immediately rushed to the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit and placed on life support. When Zeke was only one week old, he already had heart surgery and he spent most of his first year of life on oxygen. At the same time, Zeke suffered from acid reflux and had a malrotated bowel.
When he turned a year and a half, he further underwent additional heart operations. "The medical odds were against his survival, yet by God's grace Zeke somehow pulled through all the surgeries, complications and setbacks," his mom shares. "He hit all the childhood milestones despite these obstacles. He is a miracle child who has proven doctors wrong over and over again."
When Zeke got into a sudden cardiac arrest last year, his parents once again feared for his life. "The doctors told us Zeke was in a vegetative state, never to recover, and would inevitably pass away. We were advised to let him go: Stop all meds and all food, as the 'most humane' thing to do for him and for our family," Lisa recalls. "Once again, we would have to live out our pro-life convictions when we were presented with the option to passively euthanise our son."
They took Zeke home against the advice of doctors, and they did "intense daily therapy" for the past year and a half. Miraculously, their son recovered.
Lisa says her son's life is a true testament to the power of life, and she is using his story to champion the lives of those who are considered weak and unwanted in society.
"While our throwaway culture may come to other conclusions, my experience with Zeke has made me more pro-life than ever before," Smiley says. "I have become more impassioned to speak for children who are deemed imperfect, so unwanted by our society that we would want to snuff out their lives before they have even had the chance to be born."
"As the intrinsic right to life extends to me, it should rightly extend to Zeke and all children — no matter what the circumstance," she says. "It is not about me, it is about my child's life. As a mother, at the very least, I can give him the chance at life that everyone should receive — no matter how long, how hard, how joyful, how fulfilling, or happy it turns out to be."
