By India McCarty
Hallmark star Nikki DeLoach recently opened up about her son’s congenital heart defects and what life looks like for their family today.
Five months into her pregnancy with son Bennett, doctors told DeLoach he had several heart defects and would need open heart surgery just days after being born.
“With each appointment before he was born, I left more defeated and more concerned that my baby was not going to be able to survive that first surgery,” the actress told PEOPLE. “By the time we got to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and saw Dr. Vaughn Starnes, I was sitting on the floor because I was so anxious. And he just came in and said, ‘I know how to fix your kid’s heart.’ I came undone emotionally; it was the first time we had a sliver of hope.”
Five days after his birth, Bennett underwent surgery, where Dr. Starnes set a record by correcting all four defects in one single surgery. When he was 1, Bennett had another surgery, but “knock on wood, none since,” DeLoach said.
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“He’s in a good place,” she added. “He’s strong.”
DeLoach penned an essay about the experience for PEOPLE in 2017 shortly after Bennett’s birth, writing, “There were two things that kept me going: my family and my faith. My son put a smile on my face every day no matter how upset I was and I had faith that everything was going to work out for the highest good of all. I truly believed that.”
“This experience, while certainly the most difficult and terrifying of my life, has been the most transformative and inspirational,” the actress wrote. “I gave birth to the strongest, most mighty human I’ve ever known. He is a superhero. He is a marvel of God. He has renewed my faith, helping me to remember that anything is possible. He has taught me that I am stronger than I ever knew possible.”
DeLoach recently celebrated a different kind of miracle on the set of her latest movie HOME TURF. The movie required tons of extras for scenes set at a big football game and tailgate party.
“We needed hundreds of people. We needed cheerleaders and marching bands. We did not have the money for all of that,” she told Entertainment Now. “And then this miracle happened.”
She continued, “We call it the ‘Day of Miracles’ because we showed up to the high school and we were all gathered, trying to figure out…and sure enough, we hear off in the distance a marching band. The school’s marching band is playing music as they march out onto the field, followed by so many kids in the school that wanted to be a part of the movie! It was an absolute miracle.”
From onset favors that save the day to a life-saving surgery, DeLoach takes time to appreciate all life’s miracles, great and small.
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