A year ago, doctors gave the newborn with a peculiar disorder zero chance of survival.
But now the baby born with his heart and intestines outside of his body remains very much alive with the grace of God and has just celebrated his first birthday, according to Christian News.
Last year, doctors informed Desteny Amaya that her son had a condition called Pentalogy of Cantrell, an abnormality wherein the baby's heart and intestines were forming outside of his body.
"Almost universally it's fatal. These kids never survive; in fact this is the only one I've ever seen that has survived," Amaya's doctor, Van Bohman, told KNSV-TV.
When she learned about her son's condition, Amaya started praying hard.
"I use to never to believe in hope or God," she said. "When I prayed for him, it was my first time praying."
Amaya wanted to have the child despite the expected difficulty in raising him, even if he survives. At first she had some qualms, asking herself if it's a selfish act on her part to want to have the baby, knowing that the baby might suffer in his struggle for life.
"I was thinking, 'Am I being selfish for me to want him to be born for him to go through all this?'" Amaya said.
Her doctor assured her that what she wanted was not an act of selfishness. With this she finally agreed to give birth to the child.
The baby she and her husband David Canseco named Ezekiel, which means "God strengthens," was born in September 2015 by C-section.
"The skin was open when the baby was born, you could see the heart just sitting there, and the intestines were in a little bit of a sac but the heart was just right there open to the air," Dr. Bohman said.
Ezekiel underwent a series of surgeries, and now he's doing just fine, according to his mother's doctor.
"I think he's looking really well. There might be some things that need to be tweaked down the road, but right now he's doing great," Dr. Bohman said.
Ezekiel's father encouraged parents having similar problems to trust God. "For everybody that has a baby with a tough situation, don't give up. Just have faith, and everything will come out good. God has something for you," he said.
