The Spina Bifida Warrior We Were Advised to Terminate
I remember like it was yesterday walking into the doctor's office and hearing that there maybe something wrong with my unborn child. "Your AFP levels came back a bit off, but I am sure nothing is wrong" she just said that because she withheld my results for a little over a month, misplaced my files, and didn't know how to tell me that something was in fact wrong. My husband and I scheduled an ultrasound the very next day in hopes that they saw nothing. Walking into that room my heart was already broken. I was trying not to think of the worst but my gut was telling me something was off. When the doctor came in he began to hover over a spot on the baby without saying anything, then paused and said your "daughter" has SPINA BIFIDA. The way he described Spina Bifida made it seem like our child was going to have a horrible life. "Your daughter's spine never fully closed causing her to secrete spinal fluid into her sac where she is inhaling the fluid into her brain..."
Spina Bifida Does Not Define Riley
Riley Nicole Cameron was born on July 28, 2017 and had her first surgery 15 hours after birth (back closure), a shunt placement 7 days after, a shunt infection 2 months later where they needed to go back into her brain to retract the shunt, and a new shunt placed 10 days after. Four surgeries later and she is still smiling! Defeating all the odds! Of course because Spina Bifida doesn't have a cure, Riley will undergo a few more surgeries throughout her life, but I thank God we chose to fight for her and continue to fight right beside her. I thank God for giving us the strength. When you are face-to-face with Riley you forget all of your problems! She has given so much hope to families that are pregnant with their very own Spina Bifida warrior. She has helped many families in making their decisions to not terminate their child just because doctors say so. She is four months old and is already a world changer! I can't wait to see all she continues to accomplish and those she continues to help. Remember doctors will tell you the worse case of a disability, but that doesn't automatically mean you should terminate.
Follow your heart, trust that everything will be ok, have faith not only in God but in yourself that you can handle all that is to come. We gave our beautiful warrior her name Riley before we knew all she was going to go through and her name means courageous and lionhearted, she sure is both and she doesn't let her disability define who she really is. #Rally4Riley
Follow our journey on Instagram: @c.cameron3
