‘Miracle’ Baby That Docs Recommended Be Aborted and Survived Mom’s Chemo Treatment Dies in Freak Accident at the Kitchen Table

A 22-month old that survived cancer treatment while still in her mother's womb, has tragically died in an accident just two months from her second birthday.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Shana Ficks was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer when she was four months pregnant in 2011. Although doctors recommended she terminate the pregnancy, Finks, a Catholic, wouldn't.

Kesley Ficks died in a freak accident earlier this year. (Photo via GoFundMe)

“I wanted the baby so bad. It was just a miracle she came to us,” the 39-year-old mother told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “No, she was not going anywhere.”

It was even more amazing that even after enduring three rounds of chemotherapy with her mother, Kelsey Ficks, born Oct. 17, 2011, was healthy.

Two months after Kelsey was born, Ficks had a double mastectomy and radiation treatment. She later developed a nearly fatal staph infection, but survived.

Fast forward to 2013. Although things might have been looking up -- Ficks breast cancer didn't return -- in August, the mother of two developed cancer in her uterus. She had a hysterectomy.

On August 21, Ficks was home caring for her children. At one point that day, she was setting up the girls to paint at the dining room table, both of them sitting on booster seats fitted on the wood chairs, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“(Kelsey) didn’t want to be in a high chair,” David Ficks, the girl's father, told the newspaper. “She wanted to be in a regular chair like her sister.”

Shana Ficks left her girls for "not even half a minute" to dry off their dog, which had gotten into the kiddie pool her eldest daughter had been playing in earlier.

When the mother came back inside, the toddler was out of her seat, crying and walking through the kitchen toward her. Blood was pouring from her head.

While she was on the phone with 911, Ficks gathered that Kelsey must have fallen backward in her chair, hitting a curio cabinet's glass door behind her.

“My baby - I was outside real quick turning off the hose - apparently she fell back and hit the glass. She is bleeding out!” Ficks screamed to the operator, according to the newspaper.

At this point, Kelsey wasn't breathing. The operator talked the mother through how to try and resuscitate the toddler. Medics arrived and 45 minutes later, Kelsey was resuscitated.

“They had tears in their eyes,” Ficks said of the medics working on her daughter. “They were crying, trying to help her.”

The baby was flown in a helicopter to Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center, but 30 minutes after she was admitted, Kelsey was pronounced dead.

According to the Enquirer, investigators questioned the Ficks' older daughter about to what happened. Kelsey pushed her feet on the table and fell in the chair into the cabinet. David Ficks said if she had fallen just inches one direction or the other, she would have only had a bump on the head.

Here's an account from one of the first responders (emphasis added):

“Nobody should have to go through a tragedy like this,” said Anderson Township Fire Battalion Chief Fred Buop, who was working that day and responded to the home. “I’ve been doing this 30 years and this was one of the most tragic scenes I’ve been on. The one thing that struck us was how incredibly child-proof and clean that house was. They had baby gates, the cabinets had child proof locks. Even in their family room, there were no sharp corners. Everything was protected.

“They had done everything right,” he continued. “So that really struck us that you know, wow, look at this house and then for this child to fall back into the one thing in that house that could actually hurt her. It was just such a freak accident.”

The squad was in the middle of scrubbing when Buop received word from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office that Kelsey didn’t make it.

“I told them and they kind of stopped for a second and then went right back to cleaning,” Buop said. “There really were no words.”

No charges will be filed.

A donation fund was set up for the family, raising more than $14,000 to date. They told the newspaper though that they didn't need anything.

“If anyone wants to donate, tell them to give to the Ronald McDonald House,” the father said. “At least those kids have a chance.”

As for the curio cabinet, it is being donated to a local church that will use the wood to make crosses.

Read the full account of the tragedy and how the family is moving on in the Cincinnati Enquirer's full article.

(H/T: Daily Mail)

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