{"id":20995,"date":"2025-04-09T13:57:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T17:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=20995"},"modified":"2025-04-09T13:57:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T17:57:40","slug":"a-miracle-child-is-thriving-thanks-to-one-strangers-donation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/04\/a-miracle-child-is-thriving-thanks-to-one-strangers-donation.html","title":{"rendered":"A \u201cmiracle\u201d Child is Thriving Thanks to One Stranger\u2019s Donation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bill and Meg Longhenry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In August of 2023, Bill and Meg Longhenry of Florida received news that no parent wants to hear regarding their newly born second child, Millie. \u201cWe found out that she has a rare brain malformation where part of her brain didn’t develop, and the other part didn’t develop correctly. So there’s no division between the two hemispheres and the middle is hollow,\u201d Meg told Fox News Digital<\/em>.<\/a> Millie was diagnosed with alobar holoprosencephaly (HPE), which affects about one in 10,000 live births. Millie had the most severe form of the condition and most babies born with HPE don\u2019t survive their first week. So, after two months in the hospital, Millie was sent home on hospice. \u201cThey told us over 95 percent of patients with this diagnosis don’t survive past the first few months \u2026 and anyone who survives past that requires an enormous deal of medical care, like feeding tubes and breathing tubes. Usually they have no brain function,\u201d said Bill.<\/p>\n

However, the Longhenry\u2019s didn\u2019t give into statistics and decided to pursue other options. A friend suggested Dr. Brandon Crawford, a functional neurologist at the NeuroSolution Center of Austin. After observing Millie\u2019s MRI, Dr. Crawford felt Millie might just have a chance at life. \u201cI started to get the idea that this kiddo is really trying \u2014 she’s not on the decline, she’s actually really fighting to live her life in this world,\u201d he said. Dr. Crawford\u2019s practice specializes in treatments that avoid drugs and surgery, so Millie underwent laser light therapies, acoustic wave therapy, and primitive reflex integration.<\/p>\n

The therapies have helped to rewire Millie\u2019s brain in amazing ways. \u201cFor example, she can clearly see and she responds to visual cues \u2014 yet she doesn’t have the majority of those visual pathways developed in her brain. That means her brain has rewired and remapped the ability to see, and that’s the amazing part, that the brain is able to do that,\u201d said Dr. Crawford. The family is even working on helping her to crawl, something that would have seemed impossible. She can even verbalize \u201cMom\u201d and \u201cDad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite all the progress, however, Millie\u2019s family had to face the very real possibility that her treatment would have to stop, since insurance doesn\u2019t pay for it. Yet, despite their inability to pay, Crawford told the family to come anyway. On March 27, just before another regenerative treatment, the family and Crawford\u2019s team prayed for a miracle. Within two hours, those prayers were answered after Crawford received a phone call. \u201cIt was another patient who has been following Millie’s story, and she said, \u2018I feel like I’m supposed to donate something for Millie\u2019s case, and my front desk said, well, that would be amazing.” The patient paid the over $47,000 balance on Millie\u2019s care. \u201cIt’s just impossible to understand that level of generosity from a stranger,\u201d said Bill.<\/p>\n

The generous act has allowed the family to continue to fight for Millie\u2019s progress, despite a future that will require further therapies and adaptive equipment. \u201cI think the finances are always really scary for us \u2026 but there’s not a price that I could put on her life,\u201d said Meg. \u201cI’ll continue to fight and do what I need to do so she can have the best life that she can.” She added, \u201cWe serve such a big God that he is greater than our biggest fears \u2014 he is the greatest physician, and he aligns us with where we need to be and who we need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In August of 2023, Bill and Meg Longhenry of Florida received news that no parent wants to hear regarding their newly born second child, Millie. \u201cWe found out that she has a rare brain malformation where part of her brain didn’t develop, and the other part didn’t develop correctly. So there’s no division between the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":20998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-messages"],"yoast_head":"\nA \u201cmiracle\u201d Child is Thriving Thanks to One Stranger\u2019s Donation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Defying the odds, baby Millie\u2019s fight for life inspires hope, faith, and a miracle gift that saved her life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/04\/a-miracle-child-is-thriving-thanks-to-one-strangers-donation.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A \u201cmiracle\u201d Child is Thriving Thanks to One Stranger\u2019s Donation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Defying the odds, baby Millie\u2019s fight for life inspires hope, faith, and a miracle gift that saved her life.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/04\/a-miracle-child-is-thriving-thanks-to-one-strangers-donation.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiration Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-09T17:57:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2025\/04\/Millie-Longhenry_credit-Bill-and-Meg-Longhenry.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" 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