Thousands pray as Baby Francis stuns doctors with recovery

John and Kara Lilly tend to their newborn son Francis Roy Lilly in the INOVA Fairfax NICU following his traumatic birth April 1.

According to Kara, after months of an uncomplicated pregnancy, she started going into labor three weeks early. She was admitted to StoneSprings Hospital Center in Dulles and received an epidural. Kara lost track of time after that, but remembered a nurse came in for a vitals check. That is when she first heard those dreaded words — “I can’t find the heartbeat.”

“Suddenly, all the nurses were in the room,” said Kara. “Then they were rushing me into the operating room for an emergency C-section. I was just praying, ‘Lord, please save my baby,’ the whole time. It took 18 minutes for the doctors to resuscitate him.”

Kara remembers hearing Francis cry twice before she started to go into shock from blood loss. Doctors worked to save her life while Francis, who had swallowed a significant amount of meconium, was flown to the NICU at Inova Fairfax. He was baptized and confirmed that day by the couple’s friend, Youth Apostles Father Peter Clem, parochial vicar of the Basilica of St. Mary in Alexandria.

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