Whatever you think of the Pope’s progressive positions, you cannot deny that he brings a lot of consolation and happiness to those who believe in his holiness and were able to encounter him.
One such person is Bella, Rick Santorum’s daughter:
Thank you @Pontifex for blessing our little angel Bella! – rs pic.twitter.com/TDOMJ7gaCN
— Rick Santorum (@RickSantorum) September 28, 2015
More about Bella from Life News:
Former Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum’s miracle daughter Bella has Edwards Syndrome or Trisomy 18, a chromosomal condition which results in stillbirth 50 percent of the time. She definitely wasn’t expected to live this long, but the little fighter has survived and turns 7 years old today.
Although Bella was frequently hospitalized during the first year of her life, her family has been able to care for her at home apart from needed surgeries and she has not spent any significant time in the hospital until now. That doesn’t mean life is easy.
“A simple cold can kill her,” Santorum has said, recalling her birth.
“The news from doctors was bleak, and the odds were stacked against Bella. Of the 10% of babies with Trisomy 18 who survive birth, 90% won’t make it to their first birthday. Ten days after her birth, we brought Bella home, and doctors prepared us for how she was going to die. Frankly, this made us angry; Karen and I were not going to just let Bella go, we were going to fight to give her the opportunity and the chance to do as well as she could. We did just that. We celebrated her life every day, and took nothing for granted, rejoicing in every day we had with her. And since those early, difficult days, an amazing thing has happened: Bella has defied all of the odds. Now, Bella is a ray of sunshine at the center of our family’s universe, every day inspiring our family with her joyful spirit.”
In a book he wrote, Rick admits that until Bella was five months old he was convinced that she was going to die and thought the best thing he could do was to treat her differently and not love her as he had his six older children. He believed that it wouldn’t hurt as much to lose her if he had his guard up. However, since then he’s realized that was wrong.
He said, “I remember holding that finger, looking at her and realizing what I had done. I had seen her as less of a person.”
Pretty amazing story.