Little Miracles

David Samson/The ForumHope Levos

• Born: Nov. 27, 1996, at 24 weeks
• Weight at birth: 15.6 ounces
• Parents: Tom and Brenda Levos, Leonard, N.D.
• Then: Hope spent four months in the hospital after her birth, and another three months beginning late summer 2007. Her parents rented an apartment in Fargo to accommodate the 24/7 nursing care she needed.

  The Levos family prepared for the possibility that Hope would struggle with lifelong physical and mental disabilities. There simply wasn’t a lot of reliable statistical information available.

  “At one point, the doctor said she’d never run and play like other kids,” Brenda said.

• Now: Hope is No. 1 on the Central Cass Junior High volleyball team. The uniform was the smallest one the school had, Brenda said.

  Hope, a redheaded seventh-grader with freckles, is petite, but has no lingering medical issues, Brenda said. “She visits the clinic far less than most kids, I think,” she said.

  Brenda is writing a book about their experiences. Two days a week, she volunteers to rock babies at the Sanford NICU.

  Sometimes as they watch Hope’s games, Tom will jokingly mouth that doctor’s words to Brenda.

  “She’s headstrong and she’s a fighter,” Brenda said. “She’s just a happy, vibrant, hardworking young woman.”

(see reference: Article republished with permission of The Forum of Fargo Moorhead.)