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Born At 25 Weeks With Liver Disease, Miracle Preemie Heads Home

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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - After being born at 25 weeks and weighing just 2 pounds, 4 ounces, Ramier Hezekiah Eusebio Devilus headed home Thursday for the very first time.

Ramier made a miraculous recovery thanks to Dr. Debora Duro and the staff of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Salah Foundation Children's Hospital at Broward Health Medical Center.

"Dr. Duro and her team are amazing," said Ramier's mother Rachell Devilus, "I was thinking my son would never come home from the hospital, now he's 6 months and were finally going home.

When Ramier was born he suffered from necrotizing enterocolitis, a common complication of premature birth. At three months, he was transferred to the NICU at the Salah Foundation Children's Hospital.

The average infant has about 51 inches of small intestine. Ramier lost practically his entire intestine, which was about three inches long, so he wasn't able to eat and absorb the nutrients from his food.

"This carries a higher mortality of 80% in babies at that age," said Dr. Duro.

Dr. Duro and the Salah Foundation Children's Hospital has the only program in Florida that offers intestinal rehabilitation.

"Two or three years ago, Ramier would have remained in the hospital indefinitely," said Dr. Duro. "Today, because of the new personalized intestinal rehabilitation we can prescribe and the tools available for treatment, parents can continue the therapy at home."

Ramier's intestine has now more than double to four-point-seven inches so he won't need a transplant.

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Rachell Devilus holds her 'miracle' son Ramier. (Source: Salah Foundation Children's Hospital)

Ramier's mother was praying for a miracle after already suffering a devastating loss. Ramier was born a twin, his brother did not survive.

"They were born on the 18th of June, on the 19th of June my other son passed away. After he passed away all my energy was going to Ramier and that's how I started to heal," said Devilus.

She said it was her daughter, her mother, and Ramier's medical team that got her through what felt like the darkest of days.

"I had already lost one son and they were basically telling me it was over for him. I couldn't nurse him, my strength was all taken away from me," she said.

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Rachell Devilus givers her son Ramier before taking him home. (Source: Salah Foundation Children's Hospital)

Devilus said the moment she was told that she could take her son home is one she prayed for but never thought would come.

"I'm so grateful, thankful, because it's really has been a hard journey," she said choking back tears.

Ramier is now six months old and weighs around 12 pounds. His liver numbers are now normal and there is no longer any sign of liver disease.

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