Delivered four months premature, Alisha is now a thriving college student

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily of Live Action or Live Action News.

I think a common argument among those in favor of abortion is the belief that abortion is necessary when there is a high-risk pregnancy. There are doubts as to whether a mother and preborn child can both survive when the mother becomes ill during her pregnancy. Perhaps that was the case prior to recent advancements in medicine, but the story of my sister Alisha, who was born 21 years ago, proves that when we fight to save a life, anything is possible. 

When my mother was pregnant with my sister, she was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy complication in which the mother develops high blood pressure. In some cases, this can cause major organs like the kidneys and liver to stop working properly.

Unfortunately, around the 5-month mark of my mother’s pregnancy, it had gotten especially bad and one morning she woke up unable to see or breathe properly due to the extent of her preeclampsia. We lived in Nashville at the time and we rushed to the local hospital. My mother was advised by people in her life to get an abortion but there was no way she would even consider that as an option, and we were so lucky that the hospital honored this and did everything they could to save both my mother and sister.

My sister was delivered via C-section, four months ahead of her due date. She weighed one pound and her eyes, lungs, and epidermis were not at the level of full-term development. She spent the next four months in an incubator and every week my family and I would go to visit her.

It was a very difficult time for my family, but we prayed to God to keep her alive and let her continue to develop properly. This isn’t a story to prove that this process was easy because it was one of the most challenging times of our lives. It was scary, painful, and required a lot more attention and resources than the average pregnancy. But it was all worth it. Alisha was called a “miracle child” among all the staff at the neonatal intensive care unit, and without their hard work and dedication toward my sister, she may not have survived. 

Three months after her birth, we were able to bring my baby sister Alisha home. Her name means “protected by God” because even when it felt like all hope was lost, God was there to protect her life. It was unbelievable to see her grow in an incubator, but even more unbelievable to see her breathe on her own, and eventually smile, talk, and take her first steps. My mother cried so many tears of joy because she was so happy to have my sister in her arms. She always says that she would go through all that pain again if it meant keeping my sister because Alisha completed our family. She brings so much joy into our lives, and life wouldn’t be the same without her.

My mother and sister came out of this situation alive, and they have been thriving ever since! My mother’s health problems have been under control, and she’s been a very amazing and involved mother to my sister and me.

Alisha is now 21 years old. There were concerns as to whether she would face developmental challenges, but those fears vanished the second she started school. Academically she was always ahead of her peers, she was very athletic and active as a child, and currently she is a Junior at Georgia Tech studying Business Administration. She is so beautiful inside and out and she lives her life with so much grace and joy. She has so much kindness and compassion for those around her and she is my best friend!

The world wouldn’t be the same without her, and I hope that her story inspires women with high-risk pregnancies to have faith in God and in modern medicine and to realize their baby’s life is worth fighting for. 

Although my sister was nicknamed the “Miracle Child,” many stories like hers exist around the world. Pregnancy complications are very well studied and there is a myriad of solutions to save a mother and her preborn baby. It worries me that the modern push for abortion is invoking a lack of apathy among medical professionals toward saving the life of a baby when possible.

When we start to equate a growing fetus to a “clump of cells,” where do doctors find the motivation to step in and do what it takes to save lives like they did for my family 21 years ago? I hope this story inspires those in medicine and in the OB/GYN field to value the developing child as much as they value the pregnant mother and to realize that you don’t have to choose one or the other.

You can work to save both.

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