Baby with Spina Bifida Who Had Surgery before Birth, Now Able to Walk

Dorothy Cummings McLean : Oct 8, 2018
LifeSiteNews.com

"We had so many people praying for us and I definitely know that the peace I felt came from God. I knew He pointed us in this direction and I knew that He would take care of the rest, no matter how that turned out. We just had to trust in Him. And we did." -Whitney Dinkel

(Kansas City, MO)—[LifeSiteNews.com] Doctors told an expectant mom that her son had spina bifida and might never walk. But thanks to his parents' love and prenatal surgery, adorable toddler Roman Dinkel has become an internet walking sensation. (Screengrab: Roman walking/via Facebook video)

A video of Roman taking some of his first steps, with the aid of tiny crutches, has gone viral, seen millions of times. Last month the toddler appeared on "Good Morning America" with his mom Whitney, dad Adam, and the family puppy, Maggie. Maggie appears in the eight-second clip, as Roman squeaks, "Look, Maggie! I'm walking!"

Thousands of people have posted messages to the Dinkel family's Facebook page, "Defying Odds: Roman Dinkel's Journey," and YouTube to say how much joy and inspiration Roman has given them.

Roman was diagnosed with spina bifida, a congenital defect of the spine in which the spinal cord is left exposed through a gap in the backbone, when he was 20 weeks in the womb. His father Adam said on "Good Morning America" that the first option doctors give parents of unborn babies diagnosed with spina bifida is "termination." But the Dinkels do not believe in it.

"I would never judge a person for making that decision," mom Whitney told LifeSiteNews. "It is obviously not what we believe. But often times doctors paint a very grim picture of what the life of a child with spina bifida will look like. They say [he'll have] severe brain damage, will be paralyzed, in pain their whole life, and they make you believe that you will bring them into this world suffering until they die. But those things just aren't true. That's outdated information"... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here.

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