Khloe Sassman didn’t speak her first word until she was almost 3 years old. Instead of saying “mommy” or “daddy” her first word was Bella, the name of her family’s puppy.

It’s nothing short of a miracle that the tiny toddler with the deep blue eyes is even alive, so every step she takes toward having a normal childhood, her family embraces it that much more.

“It was like having a baby all over again,” said Khloe’s mother, Staci Sassman. “Her dad had to go back to Newton, and we were in Cincinnati and it was just her and I. So I recorded it on my phone so that he could hear it. And he was like, ‘I’m at work bawling like a little baby, I’m so sorry’ and I was like, ‘Don’t be sorry.’ It’s an emotional moment.”