Meet Miracle Kid Leah McAdam

Posted at: 06/02/2011 3:23 PM | Updated at: 06/02/2011 9:02 PM
By: Pat McGonigle | WHEC.com

A young girl traveled across the world to find her true family and life-saving care, right here in Rochester.

It's easy to see why Leah McAdam's parent fell in love with her instantly the moment they met at an orphanage in China in 2009. It was love at first sight.

Debbie Napolitano said, “She just grabbed us and held on. And, it was like she knew we were her parents."

These days Leah loves taking little rides in her wagon but her long and painful journey began in China.

Leah was born with an "imperforate anus". It means going to the bathroom was either excruciating or sometimes, impossible. “She was a really complicated kid because she'd spent 16 months not being able to go to the bathroom in the right way and so she was in constant pain."

Both Debbie and David are PhD level behavior analysts at the University of Rochester so before leaving for China to adopt Leah, they consulted with pediatric surgeon Dr. Walter Pegoli. He said, Whatever's broken I can fix but I can't tell you exactly what her clinical course will be and what her ultimate outcome will be.”

It wasn't easy. Leah's condition required five surgeries but ultimately Dr. Pegoli completely reworked Leah’s digestive tract and now she's like any other completely adorable, three-year old girl. “Her longtime prognosis now is excellent. She should be able to live a long and happy life. There should not need to be any further operations done, so I would like to say she's cured."

Dave McAdam said, “And what it did was it provided her the opportunity to be anything that she wants to be and it simply wouldn't have happened if she remained in china and still had her birth defect.”

Napolitano said, “When I say Dr. Pegoli gave her her life. He gave us our lives, too."    

McAdam said, “So every night when we put Leah to bed we kiss her goodnight and tell her she's the best thing that's ever happened to us.”

News 10NBC’s annual telethon to benefit the Golisano Children's Hospital is set for June 3 and 4.

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