This is one of those incredible stories that will warm your heart and remind you how precious life is. Taylor and Drew Deras are neonatal (NICU) nurses, so they are used to seeing tiny babies fight for their lives every single day. But they never expected one of their patients to change their world forever. This is the powerful story of how a nurse adopts a patient and creates a beautiful family from an impossible situation.
A Battle for Every Breath
In May 2021, a baby girl named Ella came into the world far too soon. She was born at just 23 weeks, weighing little more than a pound. Her skin was translucent, and her fingers were no thicker than matchsticks. Doctors warned that her chances of survival were slim.
For Taylor, it was another high-stakes case. But something about this tiny baby felt different. She felt an unexplainable pull toward this little girl who was fighting so hard to survive.
“I didn’t know why,” Taylor later said, “but I just felt like she was meant to be mine in some way. I couldn’t walk past her without checking on her.”
The months that followed were a terrifying blur of fear and hope. Ella faced one crisis after another—infections, oxygen crashes, and nights when her monitors screamed and doctors rushed to her side. Through it all, Taylor was there. She sang softly to Ella, whispered words of comfort, and sat by her incubator long after her shift had ended.
Her husband, Drew, who also worked in the same NICU, watched his wife’s powerful bond with the baby grow. “She’d come home crying some nights,” Drew recalled. “But she always went back the next day. She wouldn’t give up on that little girl.”
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From Patient to Daughter
After eight long months, a miracle happened. Against all odds, Ella grew stronger. One amazing day, she took her first breath all on her own. The nurses cheered, and Taylor cried. The little girl they thought might never leave the hospital had survived.
But as Ella’s discharge day got closer, a new heartbreak was revealed. Ella had become a ward of the state. There was no family waiting to bring her home. There was no nursery, and no one to hold her after everything she had fought through.
When Taylor learned the news, she didn’t hesitate for a second. She turned to Drew and said, “We can’t let her go into foster care. Not after everything she’s been through.”
So, they didn’t. The Derases immediately applied to become licensed foster parents. In December 2021, just a few weeks before Christmas, they welcomed Ella into their home—this time, not as a patient, but as their daughter.
That first night, Taylor sat by Ella’s crib, just as she had once sat by her incubator. She listened to her breathe, but this time, without fear. “She’s home,” she whispered.
A New Life and a Forever Family
People often rescue stray animals and give them a new life, but Taylor and Drew did that for a child. On November 18, 2022—National Adoption Day—it all became official. Inside a courtroom, a judge finalized what their hearts had known for months. Ella was officially theirs, forever.
“She was my patient first,” Taylor said, her voice trembling. “But once we brought her home, I loved her as my own. And now, she truly is.”
Today, Ella is a bright, thriving little girl. She is walking, talking, and filling their home with laughter. She is a happy child meeting milestones that once seemed impossible. Her life is one of the most powerful stories of hope, proving that miracles really do happen.
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