‘Miracle’ child home three years after birth

Sandra Austin recalls gazing at her 1-pound, 4-ounce granddaughter -- tubes in her throat, stomach, chest and arms -- and wondering whether she could ever live outside an institution.

But three years later, tiny Angel Green left a nursing home in Plantation, Fla., for a new world: the family home, with four siblings and an uncle to take care of her.

“This baby is like my miracle,” Austin said. “Many times we didn’t know if she would make it. She had to have so many surgeries. It was like, ‘Do I sign the [surgical approval] papers or not? Will she pull through?’ It was like tossing a coin.

“But she’s a fighter. She’s finally here with us.”

Amid the joy, Austin can’t help thinking about the daughter she lost, Crystal Green, who died at 39 from complications during pregnancy that forced doctors to perform an emergency caesarean section. Angel’s father is out of the picture.

Angel was born at 26 weeks, more than three months prematurely. She spent her first five months at a hospital, and then more than two years at Kidz Korner, a children’s rehabilitation center.

“One day we were giving her a bath and dressing her at Kidz Korner and she held up her arms over her head. It was the first time she did it on her own. I wanted to cry. My baby, she’s learning how to put on her clothes,” said Austin, who is a nurse.

Today, Angel is making her first wobbly attempts to walk. She’s sounding out her first words. She’s eating a little solid food.

But she still weighs only 25 pounds and gets most of her food through a tube. She needs breathing treatments every six hours and will need years of physical and speech therapy. Angel has come so far, and she has so far to go.

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