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Family Donates Birthday Gifts For 1-Year-Old Born With Rare Birth Defect

(CBS) -- Not many children are up for giving their birthday gifts to other children, but a one-year old girl born with a rare abdominal condition is doing it for the hospital that helped her and her parents. WBBM's Brandis Friedman explains.

Lhassan Elmilki says his one-year-old daughter Maryam doesn't need much since she already has the gift of life.

Maryam was born with an omphalocele, a sack outside of her abdomen that held many of her internal organs like the kidneys, liver and intestines.

Eventually, the family went to La Rabida Children's Hospital so they could learn how to care for her. They mat Charla Tabet, an infant development specialist born almost 36 years ago with the exact same condition, now living a healthy life.

"I think I have been able to give them a lot of hope that I'm doing ok and that things can work out," said Tabet.

Family Donates Birthday Gifts For 1-Year-Old Born With Rare Birth Defect

In thanks, the Elmilkis threw Maryam's first birthday party and donated all of her gifts back to the hospital that gave them so much hope.

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