MIA: Miracle in Action: A Story of God's Grace

By Joel Ojeda

“The angels are here, I’m okay.”

Mia Ojeda was born on July 19, 2015. Since her birth, her family knew that one day, she would change people’s lives somehow. She was a beautiful and playful little girl who was full of life and who brought joy to everyone around her. In September of 2017, at the age of two, her parents got the worst news that any parent can get: “Your daughter has cancer.”

The battle begins—a powerful, emotional, heartbreaking, yet beautiful story.

Every difficulty in life gives you an opportunity to trust God in a way that you never have before, but what happens when you have to trust Him with your only child?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9798890437464

Book preview

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MIA: Miracle in Action

A Story of God's Grace

Joel Ojeda

ISBN 979-8-89043-745-7 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89043-746-4 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Joel Ojeda

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

About the Author

It was July 18, 2015, when I was getting ready to work in a mixed martial arts event as a referee in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I had just gotten to the Las Cruces Convention Center, changed into my black slacks and black polo shirt, and was ready to go give the prefight rules meeting to the fighters when I got the phone call. Mia's mom, who was nine months pregnant, called me to tell me she was starting to feel pain. She had called her mother to take her to the hospital.

She said, I think Mia will be here tonight. I remember telling her that I was on my way.

She told me, Don't worry, my water hasn't broken. Stay there, finish your fights, and come to the hospital as soon as you are done.

I was concerned obviously being that this was my first child and that I didn't know what to expect. She was in El Paso, Texas, which was about a forty-five-minute drive from where I was. I remember texting her after every fight that I did to check on her, and she told me she was okay every single time. That night, I was working the fights with my best friend Joe Coca, who was also a mixed martial arts referee.

As the night of fights came to an end, I left as soon as it was over to get to the hospital in El Paso, Texas. I must have gotten there around 11:30 p.m. She was barely getting the contractions at that time. Several hours passed, and at 9:00 a.m. on July 19, 2015, Mia Seone Ojeda was born, weighing seven pounds and eleven ounces. Both grandmothers and my youngest sister, Kassie, were there when she was born as both our dads waited in the visitor's area.

I can still remember when the nurse took Mia and handed her to me and told me, Congratulations, Dad, here is your beautiful baby girl. I can still close my eyes to this date, and I can remember how she smelled and how amazing it felt carrying my baby girl, my firstborn, and my only child. That is a feeling that I am never going to forget. As I held her, I remember thinking, One day, this little girl will make a difference. She will be known all over, I just know it. She will have such an impact in this world somehow.

Mia's mom had picked out the name Mia because it means mine in Spanish. Her middle name Seone was chosen by her maternal grandfather. It means God's grace in Tarahumara, which is an Indian tribe from Chihuahua in Mexico. Mia was ready to leave the hospital the day after she was born. The nurses told us she was healthy and was able to go home to be with her mommy, daddy, and big sister. Mia had a sister who was three years old at that time from her mom's side. The very next day, we were able to take Mia home, and it was just the most wonderful time. This had been the best feeling I had ever had, and even up until now, nothing compares to what I felt holding Mia for the very first time, bathing her for the first time, and even changing her diapers. I enjoyed every second of it. I had waited until a little later in life to have Mia (thirty-six years to be exact), so to me, this was and is the best feeling in the world. She had her own room where her crib was in the three-bedroom home we lived, but she would sleep between her mommy and daddy. She was loved and honestly very spoiled.

Unfortunately, Mia's mom and I separated when Mia was about a year old. Even though we had separated, we shared custody of Mia so she would spend days with both of us. There were even times that together, we would take Mia and her sister out to eat, go get ice cream, or go out to the park. Mia enjoyed the time spent when we were all together.

Mia was a little bully. Her mom and I would often get reports when picking her up from day care that she pushed a little boy, that she took somebody's snacks, or that she made some kid cry. She had that fighter spirit in her as both her mom and I were martial artists. That fighting spirit would come in handy later on for her. Mia was just such a happy baby.

Being that her mom and I were separated, she got to celebrate her birthday, Christmas, and holidays twice every single time, and she loved that. I remember I went all out for her first birthday. I rented a hall with jumping balloons all over and had a Mexican food restaurant cater some delicious tacos. She had a blast playing with all her little cousins to the point that she ended up falling asleep toward the end of the night. She was partied out. Her second birthday party was the same. With her being a little older, she was more aware about it being her birthday and enjoyed it even more. I rented a room at a huge arcade/mini golf area, and again she had the time of her life running around. She was always using my cell phone to play games and watch YouTube videos that my gift for her on her second birthday was a cell phone of her own, nothing too elaborate or expensive but just a phone for her to watch her videos and play games. A lot of my family and friends jokingly gave me a hard time, saying, Who gives a two-year-old a cell phone? You are spoiling that little girl a little too much. She has you wrapped around her little finger. Comments that, of course, I did not care about hearing. She was and continues to be my only child, so of course I spoiled her. We had such a beautiful and amazing bond—Mia and Daddy.

It was around this time that Mia had started complaining about belly pain. At first, it was minor, but her mom would tell me that she would cry a lot at night and complain about pain. She even jokingly told me to stop feeding her junk food. We also noticed that her belly would get hard at times. We took her to her pediatrician, and she told us that she was just constipated and gave us medication to help soften her stool. We trusted her, and we did as she advised.

Mia was very smart and very attentive to details. I grew up going to church, and at one point, I was a youth leader then later became a youth pastor. This was toward the end of August in 2017, and on the Sundays that I had Mia, my mom and I would take her to church with us. Puerta del Cielo (Heaven's Door) was the name of the church that we attended then, the same church I had grown up and had served at. One of the pastors there is Tania Aguirre, who is a childhood friend of mine and ultimately ended up being Mia's godmother.

I had stopped serving at church not because I went out and became a rebel but simply because life happened. Since I was a mixed martial arts referee, I would be traveling a lot, so it was difficult to do anything else. Now as a father though, I made more time on the weekends I had Mia and started taking her to church. I wanted to be a good example for her and wanted her to grow up in a church environment and learn the word of God at an early age.

One Sunday, during praise and worship, I just started feeling in my soul that I should start serving and preaching again. It was a feeling I had been having for about a year prior to that day, but for some reason, that Sunday, it was heavy in my heart. I remember I saw Pastor Tania walk in and make her way to the back of the church as I followed her. That was when I proceeded to tell her what I was feeling and how God had been tugging at my heart and wanted me to start preaching His Word again like I once did.

She looked at me, smiled, and grabbed both my hands. She let out a sigh, hesitated for a little, then started talking. She said, Joel, I knew you were going to tell me this. God revealed to me that you were going to come to me and tell me exactly what you are telling me right now.

Of course, I smiled because we were in agreement. I mean, what more of a sign did I need?

She, however, forcefully smiled but then put her head down. I asked what was wrong, then she answered me, Joel, God told me to tell you this. I was hesitant and still are, but I must be obedient to Him and tell you. God is going to use you in ways you never imagined. God is going to take you to preach His Word in places you never thought you would be. God is going to use you and bless you with a tremendous ministry that is going to be worldwide, but before He does, you are going to go through something extremely difficult. I do not know what it is. He did not reveal that to me, but you will go through fire, that I know. That fire, however, will purify you and mold you, and after you come out of that situation, you will be used in an amazing way. Your testimony will be heard all over the world.

She told me all of this while her head was still down. She then turned her head up, faced me, pulled me close to her to give me a hug, and whispered in my ear, I love you. You are like a brother to me. She gave me what I can only describe as a sad smile and walked away.

I was a little confused and stood there for a bit. I then remember saying, "God, I am ready. Whatever You want to send my way, I am ready. Whatever it is. I just want to serve You, start preaching Your Word again, and make a difference in people's lives. I have an amazing baby girl that is looking up to me, and I want to lead her to You and be a great example for her. So whatever it is that You want to send my way, no matter what it is, I will not question You. I will remain faithful, preach Your Word, and speak about how great You are."

Thousands of crazy ideas of what could possibly happen crossed my head, but little did I know what was about to happen. It was the worst nightmare any parent could ever imagine. Something that would change my life forever.

Approximately two weeks after this conversation with Pastor Tania, Mia's belly pain kept getting worse. It was on Thursday, September 7, 2017, that I got a call at work from her day care at around 11:00 a.m. They advised me that Mia had just been lying down all day, not really wanting to do anything. Of course, this concerned everybody because as I mentioned, Mia was a very active baby, so for her to be this way was a reason for concern.

I worked in ophthalmology surgery, and we were busy that day, so I called her mom to see if she could go pick her up. Her mom was busy at work as well, but she was able to go get her and drop her off at my mom's house. I called my mom to see how Mia was doing, and she told me she had eaten fine and was lying down. She also mentioned that Mia was laughing and playing around. Hearing that made me feel a little better. I got off at work around 4:00 p.m. I hurried to my parents' house, and as I got there, Mia greeted me as she always did, with a big smile, pulling my beard and giving me a big kiss. We played for a little bit, but I did notice that her belly was a little harder than usual. Even though she was not complaining about belly pain, her mom and I decided to take her to the emergency room to have her checked out.

Her mom got off work around 7:00 p.m., and I met her at her house so we could take Mia together. We got to the hospital around 8:00 p.m. and told them Mia had been complaining about belly pain. They took us to one of their rooms in the ER department. The ER doctor came in and checked her out briefly, and he told us it looked like she was constipated. He would give us medication to soften the stool, and that should help. Well, that was just unacceptable as that was the exact same thing that her pediatrician had told us. Mia's mom told the doctor that we wanted an X-ray to be done. The doctor tried to talk us out from doing the X-ray, but by this time, her mom and I were very adamant about getting it done. We knew Mia, so we knew this was not normal for her.

The doctor looked upset as Mia's mom told him, You are getting paid either way, right? We were both upset as well.

He then proceeded in ordering an X-ray for Mia. She had it done about an hour later. By this time, it was close to 10:00 p.m., so when we went back to the ER room, Mia went to sleep. About an hour passed, and we hear the rustling of the curtain that had been closed to give us privacy as we waited.

The curtain opened, and it was the doctor who was accompanied by a nurse. He looked at Mia asleep, and he said, Good, she's asleep. Mom, Dad, can you both come with me please? The nurse will watch Mia. I want to show you guys something we found on her X-ray results. His demeanor of being upset had changed, and now it was more of a concerned look on his face.

I looked at Mia's mom with confusion. I grabbed her hand and followed the doctor. He led us to another waiting area that was not being occupied. There, a computer screen was on with Mia's X-ray showing. Looking at the computer, he started talking as he pointed at the screen, We found something in the X-ray that does not look normal. There is a mass about the size of a quarter that seems to be attached to her liver.

A mass, like a tumor? I asked.

I am not too sure, he answered. Unfortunately, we do not have the proper equipment to do any further testing for children here, so we need to transfer you to the children's hospital here in town to get further testing.

Not knowing the severity of the situation, we told him that we would take Mia home so she could rest and that the following morning, we would take her to the children's hospital.

That was when he said, No, she needs to go now. I have already let an ambulance know, and they are waiting for you.

That was when it hit us that this was serious, more than what we had initially thought. Walking back to where Mia was sleeping, we were still in a bit of confusion. We walked into the room, and her mom went to lie in the bed next to her. I told her that I was going to call both of our parents and let them know what they had told us. She nodded her head and said, Yes, please.

I walked outside to the parking area, and I called my mom first. She told me that she was on her way. I then called Mia's maternal grandfather and told him. He asked if we wanted him to go, and I told him that they were going to transfer us to the children's hospital, so he decided that he and his wife would just wait until the morning and go to the other hospital. I called three other people that night: my friend Isaac, who is Mia's godfather; my friend Dalisa from work; and one of my bosses and great friend, Dr. Javier de la Torre. It did not take long for my parents to get there. They got there with my youngest brother, Steven, and my youngest sister, Kassie.

I was still on the phone when I saw them walking in the parking lot toward me. I was crying because I had no idea what was really going on. I remember my brother Steven praying over me. We talked for only a couple of minutes because all I wanted to do was go inside and be with Mia. They left and told me they would be at the children's hospital first thing in the morning. I walked back inside to where Mia and her mom were lying down and told her that I had already called our parents.

She then sat down on the edge of the bed, looked at me, and said, Joel, I am scared.

I held both of her hands and told her I was scared and confused also but that no matter what, we were both going to be there and fight whatever came our way. We are her parents, and she is not alone. We are both fighters, and one thing we know about our baby girl is that she is a fighter also, I told her.

We waited for about another thirty minutes when the ambulance people came and got us. It was roughly 2:00 a.m. by this time. Mia and her mom rode in the ambulance, and I drove my car to meet them there. It was about a fifteen-minute drive as it was not that far from the hospital where we were. It was Friday, September 8, 2017.

We arrived at our local children's hospital and got somewhat situated. It was around 3:00 a.m., and Mia was still asleep. Her mom and I tried to sleep, but with the news we had received, it was difficult. They told us that around 10:00 a.m., they would do the MRI scans and any other tests that they needed to perform. At 8:00 a.m., when visitors were allowed, both our parents had showed up. They came up to our room to see Mia, but she was still asleep since she had a long night. She looked so peaceful lying there asleep. She woke up, however, while they were in the room, and she was a little surprised to see everyone there, confused but happy.

You see, since her mom and I had separated, Mia had not been with both of us and both her grandparents in the same room in a very long time, so she was excited. About an hour later, around 9:00 a.m., they came to get us to get the MRI done. Our parents went back down to the waiting area as her mom and I followed the hospital staff to get this procedure done. As we arrived at the room where Mia was going to get the MRI done, they advised us that only one parent could go back with her. At that point, I kissed Mia as her mom went in with her. They told us it would be two or three hours for the entire procedure.

We went down to the waiting area where both our parents were. We were a little concerned and confused, not knowing where all this was headed to. We were hungry, so we went down to the hospital cafeteria to grab some lunch. Close to 12:00 p.m., we got a phone call letting us know that Mia was done with the MRI and that she would be on her way to the recovery area shortly. We hurried up, and by the time we got there, she was already in the recovery area. They were going to hold her there until she fully woke up, then send us back to our room.

It took a couple of minutes for her to wake up, and while she was asleep, her mom lay down with her and hugged her. I just remember praying softly, asking God for this not to be anything serious. She finally woke up and told us that she was hungry. They transferred us to our room, and we ordered her some chicken nuggets with fries. Mia loved pollo which is chicken in Spanish. It was around 1:00 p.m. She ate a little bit, but since she was still a little drowsy from the anesthesia, she fell back asleep.

I called both our parents in the waiting area to tell them that Mia was out but that she had fallen back asleep. They said they would wait there until she woke up again; they wanted her to rest. A couple of hours passed. Mia's mom was lying with her in bed, and I was sitting in the little sofa bed they have in the room when we heard the sliding door from the room open. It was the doctor. We immediately knew something was not right when he walked in because he did not make eye contact with us.

He turned and closed the door behind him and walked toward where I was. He asked Mia's mom if she could join me and sit on the sofa. Mia was still asleep, and as her mom and I were sitting, the doctor looked up at us and said, Mom, Dad, that little mass that the doctor saw last night, well, it's not that small. It's big, and it is wrapped around most of her organs in her belly. Guys, it is indeed a tumor.

It still had not dawned on us what he was saying, and it was then that the doctor told us those words that still give me nightmares. Those words still keep me up some nights. Those words made me realize what PTSD was. Those horrific words were words no parent should ever hear. He told us, Mia has cancer.

It felt as if someone had gotten a dagger and stuck it through my chest. Those are words that I can still hear even now. He kept on talking, but honestly, it was all just gibberish to me at that time. I did not hear anything after the word cancer. I looked over at Mia's mom as she put her head down and started crying. My first instinct was to get up and start walking toward the door. I remember I grabbed one of Mia's little sandals that was there and walked out of the room. The doctor kept talking, but I could not make out what he was saying as I was walking toward the door. I opened the sliding door and started walking down the hallway.

As I was walking, I could see from out of the corner of my eye, the nurses and staff were looking at me. They already knew the diagnosis. They knew what the doctor was going to tell us. To be honest, I couldn't even remember taking any steps. I felt as if I was floating and everything was a blur at that moment. I could hear someone say, Mr. Ojeda, do you need anything? I didn't even acknowledge them, and I just kept on walking. I got to the end of the hallway where a big window was overlooking two main streets. I stopped and looked down at her sandal that I was holding. Putting it close to my chest, I started crying,