The Miracle of Maleah – Maleah Braxton overcame trial after trial, surviving, and coming home to Gadsden County

In April of 2021, the Braxton family discovered that they’d be adding another child to their family.

Jamie and Charity Braxton, residents of Gadsden County since 2015, already had four children (a daughter and three sons), and weren’t planning on adding another little Braxton to their brood - but like the rest of her life to follow, the youngest Braxton was full of surprises.

“We were surprised - very surprised,” said Jamie Braxton.

Surprise wasn’t the only feelings that Jamie said he and his wife, Charity, were feeling as they realized their family would be growing again.

Already over 35 years of age, Charity hadn’t planned on being pregnant again, and was in the age range for a high-risk pregnancy,

“The very day we found out that I was pregnant, both of us instantly knew something wasn’t right,” said Charity.

“I don’t know if you’d call it an intuition…but we knew,” Jamie added. “I even called my dad the day we found out we were having another baby. I told him, ‘ I just feel like something’s wrong.’ I felt, in the pit of my stomach, that something was wrong with the baby - but we had nothing to go on, other than how we felt.”

So until Charity’s first ultrasound appointment, the Braxtons pushed aside the feeling that something was wrong with their baby, and moved forward with life.

At sometime between Baby Braxton’s 10th - 12th week, Charity had her first ultrasound, and was sent to Maternal Fetal Medicine for further monitoring, due to her 35+ age.

“It was just the initial ultrasound, to make sure everything was fine up to that point. And everything was fine then,” said Jamie.

But it was at the Maternal Fetal Medicine clinic that the Braxtons were first told that everything might not be ‘fine’ after all.

“We found out that there was a problem,” said Charity.

In early May of 2021, the doctors found a cystic hygroma - a sac-like growth that most commonly occurs in the head and neck area of an infant - on the Braxton’s baby, Maleah.

“They told us that she had a 1% chance of making it to birth,” Charity said.

Yet, Maleah was about to show that odds and percentages would have little bearing on her young life.

The Braxton’s baby was not supposed to live until the next appointment, and yet, when Charity and Jamie Braxton returned to the clinic, doctors discovered that not only had the hygroma disappeared, little Maleah seemed to be doing just fine.

“There was a very, very small chance that would happen,” said Jamie. “When we went back, the doctor was shocked. He told us he was shocked. He told us that he expected the baby would die.”

The Braxton family. Pictured, from left to right: Madox, Charity (holding Maleah), Jamie, Micah, Mason, and McKenna Braxton.

But just because the hygroma was gone did not mean that the doctors were about to stop closely monitoring Maleah for other issues.

“It didn’t mean everything was ok,” Jamie adds.

“It went away, but she now had an increased chance for something else being wrong. Turner’s Syndrome, Down’s Syndrome, were two big ones,” said Charity.

So the family’s doctors began conducting tests and blood work on Charity and the baby - with both Down Syndrome and Turner’s Syndrome being eliminated as an option.

So instead, the doctors began looking for a potential heart defect.

“They shifted their focus from genetics, to watching her heart. They monitored her heart very, very closely, up until the moment she was born,” said Jamie. “There was also a slim chance that nothing would be wrong at all.”

Despite all the tests and bloodwork, the Braxtons still had no idea what - if anything - was going on with their baby.

“We saw lots of different doctors - tons of them - and everyone had different opinions about what was happening. Nobody had the same opinion,” Jamie said.

Even though the hygroma was gone, and doctors were still monitoring Maleah’s heart, there were other issues as well.

Maleah’s placenta looked abnormal, Charity was retaining too much amniotic fluid, Maleah’s physical measurements were off, and her head and stomach were disproportionate.

“Everything was off,” said Charity. “They told us, ‘something is wrong’ and everything was pointing to that…but no one knew what. We were told something different, no matter where we went. One doctor would tell us that everything was fine, and another would say, ‘no, it’s not.’ I don’t think it was anyone’s fault, they just didn’t know anymore than we did.”

Jamie adds that doctors wanted to conduct genetic testing on Maleah prior to birth, but due to the risk factors, the Braxtons chose not to go that route - and they now know that those tests still would have been inconclusive in helping them find what was going on with their little girl.

“She has her own condition. She would have come up negative for everything,” said Jamie.

A few weeks before MaLeah was born, Charity had a Zoom call with the Shands NICU doctor, preparing her for what the family should expect after MaLeah’s birth.

“He said we needed to expect a few days, to a week, in the NICU,” Charity said.

Charity said the family began planning for that expected week, crafting a balancing act with a hospital stay with the other four children they had at home.

Little did the family know, the expected week-long hospital stay would grow into a four-and-a-half month stay in Gainesville as Maleah fought for her life.

In November, Maleah was born three weeks early at Shands, a choice made by the doctors as Charity continued to retain fluid; a team of doctors and nurses were waiting and prepared for anything, as no one had yet been able to pin a condition or syndrome down on the various abnormalities that Maleah displayed.

And yet, nothing could prepare the family or medical staff for Maleah.

“We knew immediately, as soon as she was born, that something was wrong,” said Jamie. “I knew that she was so much worse than anyone had predicted. As soon as I saw her, I knew that something was horribly wrong.”

Immediately after birth, Maleah began struggling to breath, prompting quick action from the Shands staff - she also had physical deformities that Jamie says he instantly noticed, and Maleah’s bodily proportions were indeed off.

Charity was given a moment to hold Maleah, before the nurses and doctors had to take Maleah back, attempting to get the little pair of lungs to take in oxygen.

“They put her on a table, they put a CPAP machine on her,” said Jamie, who had to watch helplessly as his daughter struggled to breath. “They were trying to help her - or just figure out how to help her.”

Jamie said the doctor tried to bring Maleah back to Charity - but Jamie and Charity told him to take her. They knew their youngest child was struggling and needed emergency help in the NICU.

“Then, 30 minutes to an hour later, the medical director came and told us that they had to intubate her,” said Charity. “That was a complete shock. I was not expecting that.”

The couple was told that their daughter’s lungs were not working properly, which came as a complete shock to the Braxtons, as Charity had ultrasounds every week, and it appeared that Maleah’s lungs were developing - only for her to be born in the condition that she was.

“When the medical director, Dr. Burtsfield came back, he told us that she was much worse than he expected,” Jamie adds.

Maleah was barely a day old when the family was told to not expect her to live for much longer, and even if she did - the doctors were beginning to worry about brain damage from the lack of oxygen right after birth.

Maleah had pulmonary Hypoplasia, underdeveloped lungs, pulmonary hypertension, her ribs were too fragile, too short, and abnormally curved (and likely had broken ribs simply from the process of being born).

“We think, overall, her ribs are the biggest problem. They didn’t allow her lungs to develop properly,” said Charity. “Her lungs can’t expand and contract as they should. We think that if her ribs were fixed, she’d be fine.”

The family was given their chance to say goodbye - but Maleah wasn’t about to give up that easily.

Despite Braxton’s worst fears, Maleah actually began to improve.

“She was born, she was bad-off, but then she started to improve,” said Jamie. “But then, she got sick again.”

Maleah was still at Shands in December, and Jamie said it was a weekday when Charity called him from the hospital and told him that something was ‘bad wrong’ with Maleah.

“We thought she was septic,” said Charity, adding that Maleah was fidgeting, uncomfortable, her bowels weren’t working, and she couldn’t keep any food down.

But then, the doctors ended up discovering that it was a calcium deficiency from a thyroid issue causing the issue, which was easily fixed through supplements.

But then, from throwing up, MaLeah contracted pneumonia.

“We thought…we thought that would be the end,” said Jamie - but like everything else, Maleah fought back against the infection, and overcame it.

Before the Braxton’s stay at Shands would be complete, Charity and Maleah would stay at the hospital in Gainesville for over four months before getting to come home.

There were issues with her lungs, her breathing strength, and each time the doctors would see an improvement, there would also be a set-back.

During the four-month stay in Gainesville, the family was given the use of a condo in Gainesville; Charity would stay in Gainesville by herself over the week, with Jamie and their other four children coming to visit over the weekends.

“It was very stressful, but I didn’t leave her side,” said Charity.

It wasn’t until April that Charity and Maleah finally came back home to their Gadsden County home near Chattahoochee.

There is still no name for Maleah’s condition.

“When a child has a known genetic condition, that doesn’t tell the doctors how to treat the child - it just tells them what to expect from the child. But, with her, when you have an unknown condition, you don’t know what to expect,” said Jamie.

“It is an unknown genetic syndrome. They have done every test there is to do. There is no other test left to do. It is an unnamed condition,” Charity added.

Through it all, the Braxtons had a support crew back at home, from their church family at Grace Baptist Church, to family friends, and Jamie’s boss, Lester Beach; everyone provided a network of support that kept the family afloat during the tense time of unknown.

“We had a pile of support. I can’t even tell you how many people have gone above and beyond to help us. This was so much more expensive than we ever thought, going into it. But we never missed a meal, we never went behind on a bill,” said Jamie.

There are still a lot of unknowns and unanswered questions in Maleah’s future - her parents wonder will her ribs strength? Will her lungs fully develop? Will she come off of the equipment that helps her breath?

Currently, the family has set up a home-based NICU for Maleah in the family living room, it is positioned in a bright corner where she has a view of the main living space of her family, and can turn curious little eyes to watch the window outside.

Her attentiveness to the world around her, the Braxtons say, is another miracle.

Shortly after her birth, doctors then speculated that Maleah may be partially blind, deaf, or both.

Maleah has proved that to not be so - her bright little eyes follow her family around the house as they move around her, and she responds to music.

“She has already defied the odds,” Charity says.

There is still the need for 24/7 care, meaning someone must be aware of Maleah’s needs - and the little chimes on her equipment - at all times, but Maleah has no shortage of hands willing to help her.

Now settled in at home, Charity says that Maleah is a happy, alert baby.

She loves watching her siblings, listening to the movements of a happy home at work. She loves sucking on her fingers, wiggling her toes, and seems to be drawn to the color yellow.

There are a lot of unknowns.

But Maleah Braxton has the support, love, and care needed to take hold of each new struggle and put them behind her.

Ashley Hunter - editor@gadsdencountytimes.com

The Miracle of Maleah – Maleah Braxton overcame trial after trial, surviving, and coming home to Gadsden County

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The Miracle of Maleah – Maleah Braxton overcame trial after trial, surviving, and coming home to Gadsden County

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Ethics complaint against Quincy officials dismissed

From The Editor’s Desk: The time piglets were brought to a wedding

From The Editor's Desk: The time piglets were brought to a wedding

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Luau for seniors

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