{"id":58047,"date":"2015-01-07T07:00:29","date_gmt":"2015-01-07T12:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=58047"},"modified":"2015-01-07T12:43:33","modified_gmt":"2015-01-07T17:43:33","slug":"father-of-son-with-anencephaly-talks-about-gratitude-for-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/father-of-son-with-anencephaly-talks-about-gratitude-for-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Father of son with anencephaly talks about gratitude for life"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Dominic and Emily Balli were excited to find out they were expecting baby number four in January 2015. But at a routine ultrasound, they found out that their son had anencephaly, a condition in which the skull and brain do not develop properly. Most children born with anencephaly live outside of the womb for only a few moments to hours. The couple was devastated, but they chose life for little Nehemiah.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hearts were broken,\u201d explains Dominic in a video on YouTube<\/a>. \u201cWe were pretty destroyed. You know, we sat there and wept.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Before finding out his son\u2019s diagnosis, Balli, a musician, was working on a new song with several other musicians. The song, “Come That Day<\/a>,” speaks about global suffering and how one day, there will be no more pain. After the diagnosis of his unborn son, Balli realized the lyrics he penned about the suffering of the world suddenly became very personal. Dominic explains:<\/p>\n

In January, we\u2019ll have this little boy and he\u2019ll be beautiful, and he\u2019ll be born and then we\u2019ll say goodbye to him. We won\u2019t bring a car seat to the hospital. We won\u2019t decorate a room…And that\u2019s not the way it\u2019s supposed to be.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s coming a day when the enemy of death will be defeated, and the enemy of sickness and disease that was not intended to be will someday be done, and there shall be no more death. There will be no more suffering and all things will be made right. I\u2018m longing for that day more than ever now.<\/p>\n

\"dominic-balli\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to the Balli family GoFundMe<\/a> page, Emily was induced a few weeks early because of a low platelet count. Nehemiah Leone was born on December 18, 2014 at 8 a.m. The next morning at 6:02, he took his last breath. Dominic writes:<\/p>\n

We had 22 hours with that little lion, which was so much longer than we expected, but so much shorter than we wish we had. But we enjoyed every single second of him. He fought so hard til the end. He was so strong and was such a champ. I\u2019m so proud of him. He struggled a lot through the night and there were some very scary, dark moments for us, but there were way more beautiful moments.<\/p>\n

In the end, we sang to him, held him, talked with him, listened to him, smelled him, kissed him, snuggled with him, and then he peacefully took a big breath and went to Jesus. It was the worst moment of our lives and yet somehow beautiful to take our son to the feet of his maker. We love our little dude and are so thankful for his life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even at a time of deep despair, the choice of life gave the Balli family hope and peace. It allowed them to know their son and for their son to know them, and to be held, kissed, and loved before he departed from this world. The couple says they enjoyed every second with Nehemiah and are grateful for time with him that they never expected to have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dominic and Emily Balli were excited to find out they were expecting baby number four in January 2015. But at a routine ultrasound, they found out that their son had anencephaly, a condition in which the skull and brain do not develop properly. Most children born with anencephaly live outside of the womb for only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":58054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[1779,3148],"yoast_head":"\nFather of son with anencephaly talks about gratitude for life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A father of a baby who passed away due to anencephaly talks about gratitude for life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/father-of-son-with-anencephaly-talks-about-gratitude-for-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Father of son with anencephaly talks about gratitude for life\" 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