A couple from Massapequa, New York, welcomed a new addition to their family, 2-year-old Lia Lililing, despite already having children and grandchildren of their own.
Lililing, a Chinese orphan, was born with craniosynostosis, a rare condition that greatly affects the child’s skull and could later cause severe developmental problems to her brain, according to CBS New York.
Lia’s fate was already decided after she was abandoned by her biological parents. She was supposed to live the rest of her life in a remote and rural orphanage in China. Fortunately, she now has a bright future ahead of her thanks to Amy Galm and her family.
“When I first brought up the idea of hosting her and bring her here for surgery, my husband was like, ‘if it’s temporary, then OK we’ll do it,’” she told CBS.
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Amy and her husband, Tom, tried really hard and managed to bring Lia to their Massapequa home last year. A different family from another state that was supposed to adopt her, however, were preparing to officially adopt the little girl.
Four months had already passed since the Galm family took Lia home, saying how they got attached to the girl.
“We used to cry thinking of what it would be like to say goodbye to her,” she said.
But without any sort of warning, the family who was supposed to adopt Lia suddenly backed out, giving Amy and her family the perfect opportunity to make everything official.
Accompanied by her husband, Amy flew to China with Lia to officially file the adoption. The happy family returned to their Massapequa home this week, and this time, Lia is going to stay with them forever.
Since staying with the Galm family, Lia has already finished two successful surgeries with another one scheduled to happen right after Christmas.
According to the Galms, many children from the orphanage suffer the same fate as Lia who have cranial syndromes and cleft palates. They are hoping that adopting the toddler could help inspire others to do what they have done, and eventually bring happiness to these children’s lives.
Featured Image Screenshot via CBS New York
