Doctors Told Parents to Pull the Plug, Then Their Baby Woke Up

Doctors in France who were treating a one-year-old girl gave up hope on the child, and planned to end her life.  However, the infant thwarted their plans and surprised everyone by opening her eyes at about the same time the doctors were planning to take her off life support.

Little Marwa, from Marseilles, France, contracted an aggressive viral infection earlier this year.  It was attacking her nervous system and threatened to kill her.  That's why doctors decided to place Marwa in a medically induced coma.  This procedure allows machines to take over the major bodily functions so the body can remain at rest and hopefully heal itself. It can protect the brain from further damage.

Unfortunately, in Marwa's case that didn't happen.  After two months in a medically induced coma, the virus still persisted and Marwa had not gotten better.  In fact, she was worse.  The time spent in the coma was during a period of critical stage of development from which Marwa did not benefit.  Therefore, doctors said she no longer had a life worth living.  That's why they announced the humane thing to do would be to take her off life support and let her die.  They informed Marwa's parents of an upcoming date they would take action.

Marwa's father Mohamed Bouchenafa wrote in a Change.org petition, "Doctors think she will never be able to breathe on her own."  He added that the doctors told him his daughter might not walk or eat on her own.  Nevertheless, he still wanted his daughter to live.  He established the petition to get enough signatures and money to ask a French court to allow Marwa to remain on life support.  His plan succeeded and the court  granted a two-month extension on the date to take Marwa off life support.

Then, just three days after Marwa was originally scheduled to be taken off life support, she opened her eyes on her own.  Her father posted the video of that moment on the Facebook page Jamais Sans Marwa, which is French for, "Never Without Marwa." 

Early examinations indicate Marwa is doing better than doctors predicted she would be. Littlethings.com reports her organs are functioning normally and she would be able to breathe, walk, eat and grow without assistance. 

Her father says, "Her treatment continues, but we see progress every day and that gives us a lot of hope," He continues, "When I speak to her, she hears my voice, she reacts, sometimes even smiles."

Marwa's parents are anxious to bring her home from the hospital to be reunited with her twin sister, Safa.