THE FAMILY THAT NEVER GAVE UP

DOCTORS SAID THERE WAS SLIM HOPE FOR THE BABY BORN WITH ONLY HALF A HEART

- Robert Kiener

It seemed so real, thought Rob Velez about the dream he’d had the night before.

Lying in bed after waking from a long night’s sleep in his home outside London, England, he smiled as he remembered the wonderful scene. He had been holding his newborn daughter in his strong arms. As she looked lovingly into his eyes, he was so overcome with emotion that the tough 50-year-old former US Marine had started crying. He’d never felt this much love for anyone.

Amazing, he thought as the morning sun streamed through his windows. This was more than a dream. He threw back his covers and got dressed. He had to tell his partner of four years, Zofia Fenrych, what he had learnt from his dream.

Fenrych, a 40-year-old homeopathic therapist, listened as he told her about his dream. “You’re pregnant,” he said. “We’re having another baby.”

Fenrych laughed. They had a daughter, age two, and both had 16-year-old sons from previous relationships. “No way I am pregnant,” she said.

“Honey,” he said, “we are having a little girl. I saw her. And she will be beautiful!”

And to prove it, Velez zipped downstairs to the pharmacy to get a pregnancy test kit. An hour later, two red lines appeared on a Clearblue pregnancy test strip. Fenrych was indeed pregnant. She screamed in delight and they embraced. “We’re going to have a beautiful daughter,” he said. “I know. I saw her last night.”