Miracle Preemie Stabbed by Dad after 1st Birthday, Mom Sits Near Hospital Bed Praying
Almost everyone has their own story about defying the odds at least once in their lifetime. Defeating the odds twice, however, leaves speculation about a miracle.
That was the case with Bradley Batchelor who was born at just one pound, four ounces. Though suspected to not survive by doctors, the miraculous “preemie” pulled through and made it to see his first birthday.
“If you don’t believe in miracles, there is one right here,” said mother Hannah Batchelor.
However, what was supposed to be a celebration of the child’s first year of life turned into another fight for survival — and would ultimately tear his family apart.
New Hanover County investigators stated that the horrific incident began when David Batchelor got high and attempted to murder his family after a domestic dispute.
Using a kitchen knife, David went after the child first and repeatedly stabbed his son in the stomach, the puncture reaching all the way through to Bradley’s spine.
However, a neighbor — whose girlfriend happened to be a nurse — was in the right place at the right time and was outside when he saw Hannah running towards him, screaming for help.
By the time they’d gotten to the hospital, Bradley’s injuries were extensive.
What followed were several surgeries and feelings that the worse was yet to come.
“There is no way to describe that feeling to see your son hooked up to all these tubes and all these things I just can’t help him with,” Hannah Batchelor explained about sitting by her son’s bedside and praying.
Her son spent over two months recovering in the hospital, with Hannah continuously praying for some sort of deliverance. Bradley’s father is in prison on $2.5 million bail.
According to his mother and those that know him, Bradley is a fighter. When the two months were up, he quickly progressed through his health and became the growing, happy child he was meant to be. The incident hasn’t seemed to phase him too badly either.
“Just to sit there and know you have this little boy there that is full of strength and that’s all I held on to is the hope he would pull through and here we are and he did,” his mother said.
She recalls the recovery as nothing short of a miracle, though she admitted to shying away at first from talking about the tragedy that struck her family.
As time went on, however, it began to slowly heal her, and she hopes that her story can serve as an inspiration to any family going through hard times.
“It’s encouraging and it’s all full of hope,” she said. “This story seems sad in the beginning but it’s really full of hope and happiness.”
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