Faith, love, hope: Miracle boy defies the odds

From the moment they detected abnormalities during Leighann Marquiss’ 12-week sonogram, [doctors] told her and her husband, Henry, the baby had no chance. Ryan’s deformed heart was growing outside his body, they said. The baby would suffer heart failure and die in the womb within weeks. No baby with Ryan’s combination of defects had survived, they said. They told the couple not to expect a miracle, and urged them to abort. No, said Leighann and Henry, if the baby is going to die, we’ll let it die naturally. Ryan Marquiss’ story of survival, following his risky birth at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, combines a family’s faith and love with uncharted medical expertise. Doctors involved with his birth and care say that because he lived, they’ve begun to look differently at their approach to babies with his rare combination of heart defects.