A baby born with a brain tumor who was not expected to live is now a thriving, happy little girl thanks to a lot of prayer and the talents of a gifted surgeon.

AOL.com is reporting on the story of Abigail Jones who was diagnosed with a brain tumor while still in the womb of her mother, Erika Jones. Also diagnosed with Down Syndrome, doctors were not optimistic about the baby’s survival and warned her parents that she would not live long.

In spite of the dire diagnosis, when she was born, Erika and her husband Stephen fell instantly in love.

“We would spend all day just looking at her in amazement … but then also at the same time with gut-wrenching pain,” Stephen Jones said.

The couple, who live in Jacksonville, Florida, were in the process of planning for her funeral when they began to notice something strange.

Abigail’s health wasn’t going downhill. In fact, she was growing stronger and stronger every day.

Abigail after surgery with Dr. Cohen and parents Erika & Stephen Jones

“She ate. She gained weight and she looked great,” Erika told WCVB. “She was thriving. She was certainly not in any way, shape or form dying.”

Oneday, while sharing their story on social media, a woman whose now two-year-old daughter had received the same diagnosis, recommended that they get a second opinion.

They did so, and sought the advice of physicians at Boston Children’s Hospital. The hospital’s neurosurgeon-in-Chief, Dr. Alan Cohen, agreed that the large tumor covering the entire left hemisphere of her brain looked “nasty”, it didn’t necessarily mean it was malignant.

“There are sometimes tumors that look malignant, but are not malignant,” Dr. Cohen said. “We thought there wasn’t enough evidence to give her a death sentence. So I said, ‘Why don’t you come on up and let’s take a look at this thing and maybe we can take it out.'”

They did so, and on Thursday, October 8, Dr. Cohen and his team operated on Abigail. Not only did they discover that the tumor was benign, they were also able to successfully remove it.

“When Dr. Cohen came out of surgery and said, ‘We got it all,’ it was almost like she was born again,” Erika said.

She is now recuperating at home with her ecstatic parents.

Abigail has almost 10,000 followers on her Facebook page where her fans can see pictures of her progress and celebrate the blessing of her life.

As her parents state, “We pray Abigail’s story encourages you that God’s love is never-ending even through the difficult times!”

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