The Girl With the Yellow Bow

On May 10, 2021, Ashley Ferrell followed her gut. Her two-month-old daughter, Addy, woke up looking unwell. Their pediatrician advised monitoring her at home, but as the day wore on, Ashley couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. By evening, she and her husband, Denny, drove to their local hospital in western Michigan.

Initial tests were run before doctors ordered an emergency transfer to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids. By the time they arrived, Addy was unresponsive. She was intubated, and Ashley and Denny were taken to a waiting room. A doctor soon delivered the news no parent expects to hear: their baby girl had a one-percent chance of survival.

Ashley remembers walking into the PICU and seeing her tiny daughter “hooked up to so many tubes and wires—more than any baby should ever be.” The image never left her.

Addy was in total organ failure. Sepsis had taken hold. Her tiny body was also fighting meningitis of an unknown origin. Read the full cover story.

Uniquely You! magazine • Cover story • January 2026