Her middle name says it all. Isabella Hope Odom. She is called Bella for short. Bella’s favorite food is chocolate. She likes to watch Garfield and play on the big slides at Wallabies. Bella attends Hunter Elementary and says her favorite teacher is Ms. Tyler. Another teacher that cares for her is Ms. Cricket. Bella is an inspiration.

Inspiration is almost an intrinsic part of hope. It was this inspiration that prompted a Silver Lake College of the Holy Family art student Alan Jaeger to create a painting of Bella standing over her bedridden birth mother.

The inspiration was so strong that not only did the talented artist dedicate hours to make the painting, he along with a pastor from the Manitowoc college, David Beaudry, traveled over 900 miles from Wisconsin to Stoney Creek just so they could present the painting to Bella in person.

Bella represents hope and inspiration to us all. Her miraculous story is one that even the most jaded would be hard pressed not to have some faith restored.

Bella’s birth mother was only eight weeks pregnant when she suffered a poly-substance overdose — which involves multiple drugs that are taken at the same time. The overdose resulted in the mother being classified as being in a vegetative state.

Miraculously, her baby survived the overdose and continued to grow in the womb. Thanks in large part to the doctors and nurses at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, Fla., Bella was born in January 2013.

Bella was first given to her grandmother, but by March, DCS removed the baby because of drug usage in the home. TLC Community Center Director Angie Odom received emergency custody of Bella and later was awarded final custody in March 2014.