Tabatha is just a ray of
sunshine all the time.
She's just so precious and so,
like, her smile is contagious.
As soon as she starts smiling,
watch out, everybody's got a sm.
4 year old Tabitha Ensminger
is the youngest of six kids,
and as you can see,
she has the star of the family.
She was born with Trisomy 18,
a condition that causes severe
developmental delays due to an
extra copy of chromosome 18.
Her parents have been working
hard to raise awareness so they
can help other families in Idaho
who may get the same diagnosis.
Here's our Maggie O'Mara with Tabitha's
story in tonight's sevens hero.
Yellow joshton, alright.
The Ensminger's live in Eagle ad
they love having a big family.
We have 6. 4 girls and two boys
from 21 to 4. It's awesome having all
these siblings because we have e
opportunity to be there for each other and
it's just really tight family. r
years ago, their youngest daughr
Tabitha was born. What are you
doing? Like I got the card.
It was our best pregnancy
actually, and she came out
a lot smaller than expected.
So by two weeks we knew for
sure that she had trisomy 18.
It just means that she has a
third copy of the 18th chromoso.
All of us have 23 pairs of chromosomes.
We get 23 from Mom, 23 from
Dad's trisomy, 18 impacts,
one of out of every 2000
pregnancies in the US.
Symptoms include low birth weig,
a smaller head, and birth defecn
organs that can be life threate.
Survival rates are low.
Tabitha had a heart defect at b,
but her mom, Sandy,
was shocked by what doctors tolr
every professional we talked to,
the first thing out of their mouth was.
Well, you know,
you can just do comfort care.
You don't have to do any interventions.
At what point would you like a ?
And it's like, no,
that's not acceptable.
She refused
to give up on her baby girl.
Thanks to the world of Facebook,
we were able to connect with an online
support group for twice a week,
children called Soft,
and everybody was like,
there's an awesome surgeon in Nebraska.
You got, you got to talk to him,
you got to talk to him.
He does early repairs.
So within seven days we were in Nebraska
and she had a full heart repair,
and it wasn't.
Until then,
that she was able to gain weight
and grow and thrive because
her heart was burning so many
calories that she just couldn't
survive survive without it.
Which is why they don't survive very often.
Tabitha is now 4 and she is defg
the odds thanks to her surgery,
a surgery she almost didn't hav.
Just because she may never walk,
talk or eat on her own
doesn't mean she's not changing
lives and improving the world
by the lives she does change.
I want people to know that thers
hope and it's not not something fatal.
It's, you know, hopelessness is fatal.
A lot depends on intervention ad
attitude of the caring doctors.e
end swingers are now dedicated
to raising awareness.
Sandy worked to get a proclamatn
from Governor Brad Little.
March is trisomy 18 awareness m.
This is the 4th year that
Governor little has signed it.
The goal is, is to educate and t
the word out and educate people,
educate medical professionals.
You know, it's it's a learning curve. You
know, now I'm involved with Sims
law and Simon's kids and so, you know,
being able to put ourselves out there
to come alongside other families
and mentor and advocate for the.
Simon's law protects parents
rights as they oversee the
medical care of their children.
Governor Brad Little signed
the law into effect in 2020.
It was named for a little boy who was
born with trisomy 18 in Kansas in 2010.
His parents say he was
denied medical treatment.
Doctors told the couple his condition.
Was incompatible with life.
We know what could happen and we
want to prevent it from happeni.
Most of us, you know,
become this Mama bear where
we'll do everything and anything
for this child. You know we
don't take no for an answer.
My baby sister Tabitha has a superpower.
She has tried some 18,
which means she is the happiest
and the most lovable baby ever.
But when she was born, she wasnt
expected to live longer than a month.
She has far exceeded that expectation.
Oldest sister Esther was
so inspired by Tabitha and.
All she's overcome so far.
She highlighted her in her graduation
speech and her life has taught e
that tomorrow is never promised,
which is why I think it is very
important to make the most of t.
Today is, you know,
that's what we have to do.
Tomorrow may not come.
It's not promised.
So just to to think on that and
to so she was my inspiration
on that and to be able to share
that and share part of her story
and my graduation speeches
was quite an honor. She's
like this is something people need to hear.
And so she just got up there and nailed it,
and it was just we were so proud of her.
As for Tabitha's future,
I think the possibilities are wide open.
I accept the fact that she may
never be able to do certain thi,
but that doesn't stop me from
giving her the opportunity.
Her story is giving other babien
Idaho with trisomy 18 a fighting chance.
She's just brought so much joy
and happiness to our family.
And she's been such a blessing and just,
you know, just seeing her smile.
Every day seeing her face is jut
it's just been awesome. Sevens .
For more information on trisomy
18 and Simon's law, visit this
story on our website, ktvb.com.