❤️‍🩹🙏 HE MADE IT THROUGH: BABY ELIAS IS BREATHING ON HIS OWN AFTER OPEN-HEART SURGERY

The two pictures tell a story that words can hardly capture.

On the right is baby Elias before open-heart surgery.

On the left is Elias today — awake, extubated and doing well.

He made it through. ❤️🙏

For months, thousands of people have followed Elias’s journey after his mother, Kimberly, first reached out asking for prayers.

Today, she finally had the update everyone had been hoping to hear.

“He did amazing.”

Elias was diagnosed with Double Inlet Left Ventricle, a rare and serious congenital heart defect, before he was even born.

Kimberly says doctors told the family that ending the pregnancy was their best option.

They chose something different.

They chose to fight for their son.

Elias was born in March and underwent his first heart procedure in April.

Then, when he was only about a month old, another crisis nearly changed everything.

On May 5, Kimberly says she, her mother, her 2-year-old son and Elias were involved in a serious crash.

Elias began having seizures and went into shock. His lungs collapsed, and his oxygen levels fell to dangerously low levels.

Doctors rushed him into emergency surgery and placed a shunt to help deliver oxygen to his heart and lungs.

Kimberly says the driver responsible for the crash left the scene and has never been found.

Doctors then hoped Elias could recover and grow stronger before undergoing the next major step in his heart journey.

His open-heart surgery was originally expected to happen sooner, but doctors delayed it to give his tiny body more time to recover between procedures.

Then came this week.

Kimberly asked everyone who had been following Elias to pray.

“Tomorrow is a big day and all we ask for are prayers for him and us,” she wrote.

Yesterday morning, Elias underwent the Glenn procedure, an important stage in his surgical treatment.

He came out of surgery intubated, meaning a breathing tube was helping support him as he recovered.

Then today came another milestone.

The breathing tube was removed.

Elias was extubated.

And his mother had the words everyone had been waiting for:

“He is doing good.” ❤️

Look at those two pictures again.

One shows a little boy who had no idea what he was about to face.

The other shows that same little fighter after open-heart surgery, awake and breathing without the ventilator that helped him through the procedure.

His heart journey is not over.

There will still be appointments, recovery and more challenges ahead.

But today, his family isn’t asking people to worry about the next battle.

Today, they are asking everyone who prayed for Elias to celebrate this victory with them. 🎉❤️

If you were one of the people who prayed for this little boy when his story was first shared, leave Kimberly a message and let her know you are still here.

🙏 Pray for an uncomplicated recovery.

🙏 Pray for continued strength.

🙏 And pray for the day Kimberly gets to take Elias home.

Because after everything this family has endured, perhaps the greatest gift would simply be having all three of her boys together under one roof again. 🏡❤️

Leave Elias a ❤️ or a prayer below to celebrate this incredible milestone with his family.