When little Braden was born, his mom prayed that the Lord would bring him home to ease his pain. But when looking at this precious boy 22 years later, it’s difficult not to shed a tear…
When Braden West was born, his parents were told that he wouldn’t get to live long. The reason why was because he was diagnosed with Pfeiffer Syndrome Type 2, a genetic disorder characterized by the premature fusion of certain skull bones which prevents the skull from growing normally and affects the shape of the head and face.
The devastated parents learned the news of their son’s condition two weeks before he was welcomed into the world as the ultrasound showed abnormalities. As expected, they got extremely worried and felt as though their world shattered into a million pieces.
“I mean, he’s kicking in my belly and I’m praying for God to take him home,” mom Cheri told News Nation Now in 2020, adding, “It looked like he was not going to have the back of his head. It looked like he was going to be born with teeth. It looked like it was a bad situation.”
“There’s a picture of him when he was born and it shows his skull very well, a distinct clover shape,” Cheri shared with The Owensboro Times, adding: “At a month old they let us bring him home. He was not thriving, they knew he was not going to make it. We brought him home to meet everyone so he wouldn’t die in a hospital.”
17 years ago I cried because I thought his time on Earth was ending, and now I’m crying because he is graduating [from] high school and his life is just beginning!,” Linn wrote on a Facebook post.
“To watch him become this amazing young man has been emotional, but yet I’m so proud,” mom Cheri told The Epoch Times.
“When I was watching him walk the line, every emotion of the first few months of his life came flooding back. All I could think about was, he isn’t supposed to be doing this, he wasn’t supposed to even be able to hold a pencil, speak, see, hear… and here we are.”