Parents of ‘Miracle Baby’ Get Help From Strangers

CEDARBLUFF, Miss. (WCBI) – One local couple got news from their pediatrician that no parent ever wants to hear.

These parents said they ignored the expert medical advice, and three years later they’re glad they did.

Quantrel and Tishana Alford are going through what every young parent experiences.

They readily admit they weren’t quite ready, but who really is?

“Panicking, anything that goes wrong. you’re on eggshells 24 hours a day,” Quantrel said.

But there’s another layer to this story. Their daughter, Zoey Grace, has frontal encephalocele.

“She has scull in the back front and sides but not in the front, it’s just brain and skin, because of that her nose didn’t form properly and she has a partial cleft pallet where her lip isn’t completely closed,” Tishana explained.

The Alfords first learned something wasn’t right about the time most parents learn “boy or girl.”

“And from that point the nurse was there with her clipboard and she said ‘we can set up your termination procedure today if you’d like.’ And we kind of just looked at each other and said, ‘no that’s not something we want to do,'” Tishana said.

Tishana said appointment after appointment, they kept being asked that same dreadful question.

“At one point I just said ‘can you just stop asking us that? You know, we’re not going to do it.'”

Daddy was first to hold little Zoey Grace after she was born, and it was love at first sight.

“Most beautiful thing in the world. Someone who looks just like you. Makes you tear up, one of the best moments of my life,” Quantrel said.

During the last three years, there’s been lots of best moments with Zoey.

“She has defeated all the odds they have put against her. She knows her colors, she can count to twenty now,” Tishana said.

But Frontal Encephalocele gets in the way, she has to wear a mask just to go play.

Tishana said they were told Zoey would need nine to thirteen surgeries.
But this July, she’ll have only one in Boston. The Alfords found a team there who believe they can do it all in a single surgery.

“As a momma you’re like, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. My baby only gonna have to have one surgery,” Tishana said with a smile.

But that comes at a cost. Tishana said she quit her full-time job after Zoey was born, and even if Quantrel’s insurance covers the surgery, they’ll be in Boston for recovery for weeks. That’s where a group of strangers come in.

Kristi Davis of the “Fab 40” club is the one who first saw little Zoey on Facebook, and knew her group had to help.

“I know that she’s a miracle because I also have a miracle baby. I know where they’ve been. I guess thats the reason their story is so important to me,” Davis said.

The Alfords believe the group of women were sent directly from God.

As grateful as they are for all the help, they’re not ashamed to ask for one more thing.

“Pray for our strength, pray for our endurance, and most of all pray for Zoey,” Tishana asked.

If you’d like to financially help the Alfords, you can make a donation at any Cadence Bank location, under Zoey Grace Alford.

The family also has a gofundme page.