A Stockton baby left doctors baffled when she came into this world.
Born premature at 25 weeks, she was the smallest surviving baby ever born in Northern California.
Her name was supposed to be Janay. At birth, she weighed 10.5 ounces. "I held her in the palm of my hand," recalled David Jackson. Doctors gave his daughter less than a 50 percent chance of survival.
"They had told us she wasn't going to make it," Jackson said. Given her condition, she wasn't expected to live more than a week. But somehow, she proved everyone wrong.
In a miraculous turn of events, her parents were able to bring her home from the hospital last January. "Eighteen months later and she's still pushing. She's still fighting like she was from the beginning," said Felicia Brown. Her baby, now weighing 20 pounds, is truly living up to her given name, Amiracle.
"Everybody don't get to see God's work and it's a blessing," said Brown. Amiracle's parents know she's a blessing still in progress.
Amiracle's lungs aren't fully developed and she needs an oxygen machine 24 hours a day. Since the family has little income, they receive in-home support services. The home-based care helps keep Amiracle with her parents in Stockton as nurses come to check up on her 8 hours a day.
"We get to see growth and signs of her name, Amiracle," said Jackson. While Amiracle has defied all expectations, she has had several setbacks. Medical complications that have had her rushed from Stockton to specialty doctors at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital.
"It's hard to get here from Stockton. They don't have gas money. We have to give them gas money," said Dr. Phuoc Le. He is assistant professor of Pediatrics at UCSF and took care of Amiracle when she was last in the ICU.
"It was during the winter and she caught a virus," said Le. Amiracle survived that health scare but still faces an uphill battle.
At 18 months old, she still can't crawl. She has vision problems as well as chronic lung disease. "It's a super tough situation. She could get the flu and could get really sick this winter," said Le. "Could be another few months of hospitalization."
Le hopes someday she gets strong enough to breathe on her own. For now, Amiracle's fighting spirit keeps the family from losing their faith.
"We know now Amiracle isn't most babies. So we just take it one day at a time, and thank god that we still have her here," said Brown.
