Mom Says Her Baby Started Breathing as Soon as His Life Support Was Removed | "We Weren't Ready to Say Goodbye"

Baby Karson, who has a rare, genetic, metabolic disorder called Non-ketotic hyperglycinemia (NKH), defied all odds to survive.

Representational Cover Image Source: Getty Images | pekkak

By WomenWorking Correspondent

July 15, 2022

Posted July 15, 2022

In what can only be considered a miracle, a baby surprised his parents by breathing on his own immediately after his life support was removed.

Lisa Hough, a mother of three, said her grandson Karson had been born with many medical complications. “The only way to describe what has happened is that this beautiful baby boy has suffered two very rare traumatic conditions that are completely unrelated to one another,” she shared on her Facebook page. The baby was diagnosed with a rare, genetic, metabolic disorder called Non-ketotic hyperglycinemia (NKH). According to Medline Plus, it is a disorder that occurs as a result of high levels of a molecule called glycine in the body (hyperglycinemia). The excess glycine builds up in tissues and organs, particularly the brain, and this results in serious neurological problems to the affected people.

Speaking of Karson, the concerned grandmother explained: If the hemorrhage in the left temporal lobe was the only situation, his prognosis would be more promising. This would affect just neurological things on the left side of his body (kind of like a stroke), but he most likely would be able to recover most of those functions with time and therapy over the years and man, at this point, what a blessing that would be. With the added NKH diagnosis, this affects his brain as a whole. His case is presented as severe and would cause him to be severely neurologically impaired - functioning at a 2-3 month old level at best for his lifetime. He will never walk, talk, comprehend, be fed by mouth, will be visually impaired, and will suffer seizures upwards to 20 - 30 a day, with his condition worsening by the day.

After receiving enough information about the baby's medical issues, the family made the incredibly painful decision to take him off life support, a decision no parent has the heart to take. “While we weren’t ready to say goodbye to Karson, we had come to terms with the inevitable. We were given 10 minutes after withdrawing intensive care and the ventilator and told he would not breath on his own and to expect his heart to stop within those 10 minutes,” Hough explained. But then, as Hough put it, “God had other plans.” The family witnessed a miracle. “He immediately started breathing on his own once the ventilator was removed, heart rate and oxygen stabilized, and here we are 5 hours later with this miracle baby that we were told would never breath, swallow, have gag reflexes, or even survive. He is breathing unassisted. He is swallowing. He is surviving. He even has slightly opened his eyes a couple times today,” Hough's post said. Doctors can't seem to explain how the little baby made it through, according to Hough, but like she said, it seems like a true miracle.