Home Run for Life: Six-year-old NICU graduate ready to run the bases at the South Bend Cubs

This story features a Beacon Children’s Hospital patient who will be running the bases on Friday, June 6 at Home Run for Life — a partnership between Beacon Health System and the South Bend Cubs. We will be featuring the heartfelt stories of each patient who is participating in this program throughout the summer.

Six-year-old Malachi may have cerebral palsy, but that doesn’t stop him from being the life of the party.

“Malachi’s an amazing guy. He’s loved by everyone at school,” says mom Amber. “He’s so funny! He has always been such a jokester. He’s always been so smart and clever.”

Born at just 23 weeks (17 weeks early, Malachi spent nine months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Beacon Children’s Hospital. His lungs and airway, not yet fully developed, needed the support of a ventilator, and he experienced problems with coordination. But he was full of personality from the very beginning. His nurses would even laugh with Amber about how curious he was — little Malachi didn’t want to miss a thing.

Being a Beacon Children’s NICU nurse herself, Amber deeply appreciates the quality of care he received. She says it hits a little differently once it’s your child in the NICU. “It changed my love for these people,” she shares. “The nurses, the doctors and the therapists just took him under their wing and took such amazing care of him.”

“The developmental care he received is going to change the rest of his life,” she adds. “They poured so much into him.” He still visits the hospital twice a week, now sporting a VIP hospital badge that a thoughtful receptionist made for him.

It’s all part of Malachi’s gift for moving through life with a spirit of curiosity and friendship. When he’s taken back to visit the NICU, he asks each nurse, “What did you do with me? Did you play with me? Did you read to me?”

“He brings so much joy”

Amber and her husband aren’t Malachi’s biological parents. In fact, they were just going through the training for fostering when he was born and didn’t know he’d become their son until he was nine months old. They may not have anticipated bringing home an infant from the NICU, but once they met Malachi, they fell in love.

Today, he’s at the center of their family, which includes their three biological children.

Malachi has happily overcome all his lung problems, although his cerebral palsy still poses some challenges. A self-described “medical mom,” Amber says that every week includes appointments and therapies.

Her son’s journey has had its difficulties, made easier by small kindnesses such as a Child Life Specialist encouraging him to decorate his mask with stickers before going into surgery. “Everybody cares so much. It really touches our hearts,” Amber shares.

Knowing that Malachi wants to do whatever other six-year-olds can do, his family looks for ways to create opportunities for him—like a trip around the bases at a South Bend Cubs game.

More from the South Bend Cubs and WNDU

Read more about his journey and watch a special video featuring Malachi and his mom, Amber.

WNDU-TV also shared Malachi’s story and covered his exciting Home Run for Life at the South Bend Cubs game.