The little girl who wasn't expected to live after suffering a severe bout of bacterial meningitis, is overcoming all obstacles placed in her way, much to the delight of her mother.

Little Jacinthe Michaela and her mother were both previously featured in the three-part series, "Please God, Let Her Live!"

My daughter Jacinthe Michaela is now eight years old.  She continues to fight all odds placed upon her.

When she was born, my daughter was found to have serious physical disabilities (spina bifida). She also was born deaf/mute and had a low immune system that prevented her from fighting off even the simplest of colds or flu.

Jacinthe has been through more in her short life than any child has a right to experience: she's been in and out of the hospital, has gone through several serious surgical procedures, and has nearly died more than once.

She had a bout of meningitis (the bacterial kind) when she was three years old; it left her even more disabled, leaving her brain damaged, not able to do much for herself.

However as the years have gone by, she continues to make amazing strides: Jacinthe is now able to sit up without help, she's communicating again, relearning lost skills that she'd learned prior to the attack of meningitis.

It's not been easy.  It's been doubly difficult for me, a single parent.  Jacinthe is my only child; I have gone completely gray on account of some of the things she's experienced.

I am in my mid-thirties, yet I look more like sixty.  Look and feel like an old woman:  arthritis and fibromyalgia have set in.  Some days I am in such pain I can hardly get out of bed.

Thank God I have my neighbors or my parents in Kentucky to help me whenever it is needed! I don't know what I would do without them!!

It seems that sometimes I live at the hospital more than I do in my very own house. I can't tell you how many days where I've spent the night in the PICU waiting area, waiting, praying, hoping for yet another miracle for my daughter!

I've seen many children come and go; I've met many a parent who is going through the same thing as I am--at times much worse. I've made many friends with the nursing staff.

And yes, that little Cajun nurse that I mentioned in my story about Jacinthe is still there!  She still prays for my daughter, keeps me informed of all the goings on in her life, which I appreciate.

Louie's family has gotten even bigger--she now has over sixty kids that she and her husband, Bill, have taken into their home. To top it off, she had twin boys on Thanksgiving Day! So now they have sixty-three children, sixty-one of them adopted!!

However, this story isn't about Louie Sandusky. It's about my daughter, Jacinthe, how she's faring. Yet my story can't continue without mentioning Louie Sandusky because she's been such a huge part of my life!

To reintroduce you to who I am, my name is Heather Larkspur Lewis. I am Jacinthe's mother. Jacinthe is my world, my very reason for living. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have her in my life; she's been nothing short of an incredible miracle-girl!

God has blessed me with her, allowing her to live, allowing me to love her, raise her, give her all I can in life.

 Jacinthe may be handicapped, yet she's accomplished more these past five years than doctors said she would. I thank God for every day she's with me; I hope that He gives me plenty more opportunities for me to enjoy my daughter!

~Written by Heather Larkspur Lewis, mother to Jacinthe, now eight years old.