A North Texas family is celebrating a milestone birthday with the medical staff who worked so hard to help save a child who was born prematurely.
Ruby Silva came into this world four-and-a-half months premature. She was only 22 weeks and six days when she was born at Methodist Richardson Medical Center on March 22, 2015.
On Tuesday, her family returned to the hospital to celebrate Ruby's first birthday.
"When I initially counseled mom and dad, I put her survival at less than 5 percent," said Dr. Lilian St. John, a neonatologist with Methodist Richardson Medical Center. "However, her parents still wanted everything to be done for her."
When Ruby was born she cried and moved more than doctors first anticipated.
"So we went ahead and decided to resuscitate Ruby because she showed really good signs of life, so we decided to give her a chance," St. John said.
Ruby was in the NICU for five months.
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"It has been difficult because I'm telling you it's a little complicated," said Ruby's father, David Silva. "But at the end of the day, at the end of the road, there is a light and we're seeing the light now."
"Every day I feel special because God did a lot on her, and she's doing really good because God is holding her," said mother, Mirna Contreras.
Ruby's family said she is now sitting up by herself, playing with toys and loves her jumper.
"I gave her a very dismal survival in the very beginning and she was a fighter from the beginning, and to know that she made it to a year now and is with us it makes my job very fulfilling," St. John said.
