The Experience Miracles Podcast

“Chiropractic Saved Her Life” — What Every NICU and Special Needs Mom Deserves to Know

Aug 5, 2025

Premature Birth, NICU Trauma, and Pediatric Chiropractic: Harper and Megan’s Story

Episode 127, Experience Miracles Podcast | Host: Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP, Pediatric Chiropractor & Founder of PX Docs | Published: August 5, 2024 | Duration: ~35 min

Guest: Megan Stafiej, Mother, patient advocate, and team member at PWC Chiropractic

Key Takeaways

  • Harper Stafiej was born at 26 weeks and 6 days via emergency C-section, spent 97 days in the NICU, and came home on a breathing monitor, yet conventional medicine ran out of answers after just six weeks of post-NICU hospital care.
  • After a Facebook plea connected Megan to a pediatric chiropractor, Harper’s very first spinal adjustment, performed in the hospital, resulted in two minutes of calm and Harper responding to her name within the hour, despite having been told she was completely deaf.
  • Within months of beginning Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care, Harper went from 10 medications down to 2, stopped vomiting, began sleeping, and her EEG no longer showed seizure-like activity.
  • Dr. Tony Ebel explains the mechanism: spinal adjustments activate the Vagus Nerve and the parasympathetic nervous system, signaling the child’s body to stop fighting and start healing, especially powerful in children whose nervous systems are severely dysregulated from birth trauma.
  • Megan’s story became a mission: now a patient advocate, she makes sure no other parent feels dismissed the way she did during Harper’s six weeks of unanswered suffering inside a hospital system that had run out of options.

What Happens When a NICU Baby’s Nervous System Goes Unanswered?

Premature birth is one of the most significant triggers of nervous system dysregulation in children. When a baby arrives at 26 weeks, the brainstem and upper cervical spine, still developing at the time of delivery, are highly vulnerable to the physical stress of emergency birth interventions. Harper Stafiej’s story is one of the most vivid illustrations of what happens when that nervous system distress goes unaddressed, and what becomes possible when it finally gets the right care.

Harper arrived via emergency C-section at 26 weeks and 6 days. She came out not breathing. She spent 97 days in the NICU battling respiratory instability, failure to thrive, seizure-like activity, chronic constipation, and a severely aggravated nervous system. When she came home, she came home with a monitor that would alert her parents if she stopped breathing. After six additional weeks in the hospital with no improvement, her doctors said the words no parent should hear: “We don’t know what else to do.”

What followed changed everything. A Facebook message, a referral to a pediatric chiropractor, and a spinal adjustment performed in the hospital room led to Harper responding to her name, on video, within an hour of care. The medical team had told her parents she was completely deaf. Within months, she went from 10 medications to 2. Her EEG showed no more seizure-like activity. She was back in therapies, gaining weight, sleeping. Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care didn’t treat Harper’s symptoms one by one, it addressed the root: a nervous system stuck in a state of survival that had never been given a way out.

Harper’s Difficult Beginning: Born at 26 Weeks and 97 Days in the NICU [00:06:00 – 00:10:00]

Megan Stafiej: Harper was born early, at 26 weeks and six days. From the very start of my pregnancy, I had a rough pregnancy. I had migraines. I was going to my doctor complaining about nausea and exhaustion. I was so emotional right from the jump.

Going into my six-week appointment, I said, “What can I do to help? I’m having these migraines so bad I’m throwing up.” I was told, “It’s going to get better. Just sleep, take a nap, take some Tylenol.” That was the list. That was it. None of them worked. I was told by the second trimester it would get better. It wasn’t getting better.

I also had concerns about my incompetent cervix because my mom had it and my grandma had it. Same thing: “You’re young, it’s fine. It’s not hereditary.” All my concerns from the start were just dismissed. At 25 weeks they found out I was two centimeters dilated. I went into the hospital and had her two weeks later via emergency C-section. She came out not breathing. She was in the NICU for 97 days. Throughout that NICU stay, she had heart surgery. She had spells, she was constantly not breathing properly. You name it.

Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP: It’s a most unfair question to say, “Tell us about those 97 days,” because when you’re in the NICU, and NICU parents out there listening, we feel you, we love you, we are here for you, every day is 97 days long. When you have 97 of those days, I would need a calculator for that math. Was it respiratory that was the continual struggle?

Megan: Yes. Respiratory. They threw the book at it from what they had and just could not get that to stay stable. She even came home after 97 days on a monitor to let us know when she stopped breathing. If she wouldn’t come out of it, we were told to dial 911.

That was your at-home plan: just take the NICU home with you. I was 23 years old, my husband was too, and we were an hour away. Coming home, you think it’s going to be sunshine and rainbows. From the start, it wasn’t.

The Facebook Plea That Changed Everything [00:09:00 – 00:12:00]

Megan: We were in the hospital for six weeks with no answers. The doctors literally looked at us and said, “We don’t know what else to do.” Harper had full-body X-rays, she had MRIs, you name it. They were seeing that she couldn’t poop properly. She was vomiting constantly. They said she has failure to thrive. They said her movements aren’t correct. Her EEG showed that she doesn’t have seizures, but she has seizure-like activity. She had a very aggravated nervous system.

I said, “No, this isn’t going to happen.” I reached out to Facebook. I did a very long post, begging and pleading to my friends and family: “Does anybody know any information or how I can help my daughter? Because I’ve been sitting here for six weeks and been told the same thing, that this is her life.” I knew there had to be something.

Dr. Tony: Our parent guts, our fight, it gets dim sometimes for sure. But it doesn’t ever go out. That pile of light does not go out. Who responded?

Megan: Brittany, who was working with Dr. Tony, said, “Megan, you need to be seen. Harper needs to be seen today, tomorrow, immediately, because her nervous system is so subluxated. You need to see a pediatric chiropractor.”

Dr. Tony: You know this stuff inside and out right now, so that’s what’s tricky about going back and telling Harper’s story. You have to take your brain back to your operating model at the time, knowing nothing about chiropractic and subluxation, probably never hearing the word subluxation in your life. What did that sound like when you first read that message?

Megan: At first I was very confused. I was like, “I’m sorry, you’re saying if my child gets adjusted she’s going to get better?” Honestly, coming from a mom who’s been in the hospital for six weeks, an adjustment’s just going to miraculously help?

Dr. Tony: Well, God bless it, it did.

“Our parent guts, our fight, it gets dim sometimes for sure. But it doesn’t ever go out. That pile of light does not go out.”, Dr. Tony Ebel

Getting Into the Hospital: When the Doctors Had Nothing Left [00:12:00 – 00:16:00]

Megan: Once Brittany really talked to me about it, I was like, “Oh, this makes so much sense. I get it now, and let’s sign me up because I will do anything I need to do at this point.”

Dr. Tony: When I found out how much Harper was struggling, and I had been literally in that exact same NICU with my own son not too long before, there was only one way to help. Get in there and get her adjusted. That’s just what God has called me to do. If some kid is struggling that much, I could go down the list of the names of people who were not helping. So I was like, let me help.

The tricky part was that you were still in the hospital, and they were not really letting you out. You actually had to advocate hard to get me in there.

Megan: I fully stated and looked at the doctor and said, “Listen, enough is enough. My baby girl needs help. This is what we’re doing. My chiropractor is coming and he’s going to adjust her.” And at that point they had no argument.

Dr. Tony: The truth is, the doctors deep down only want to do what’s right and get that kid out of the storm too. The hospital system pretty much entirely prevents them from doing it. But there is oftentimes a last-resort point where even they will say, “Go for it, because we can’t help you anymore.” You got your doctors to their human point. And they said okay. So, what was that very first adjustment like?

Megan: You gave us the full communication, a little nerdy, a little science-y. Some of it I didn’t understand. But I immediately knew deep down in my heart we were in the right place. I knew that God placed your hands on her in that moment. She was not an easy patient to keep calm, but she was calm. She kind of just mushed into you. You were actually able to lay her on her back and she didn’t make a sound. Was it two minutes?

Dr. Tony: Two minutes.

Megan: Two minutes. The best two minutes of our lives, of her 11 months being alive.

The First Adjustment: Activating the Vagus Nerve [00:16:00 – 00:20:00]

Dr. Tony: The more subluxated, the more dysregulated these kids are, once you get to that spot, that specific area of the neurospinal system, they have been waiting for it. They instantly just fully calm. Almost like you hit a reset switch. What you’re doing is activating the Vagus Nerve, I told you I’d sneak a little science in, you’re activating the Vagus Nerve and the parasympathetic nervous system and you’re just saying, “Take a breath, little baby. Take a breath, nervous system.” And they do when they really need to. Then you build momentum on that.

So what did you start to notice from that adjustment forward?

Megan: Actually, we have a video that I will never forget. It was about an hour after you left. I kept saying her name, “Harper”, and talking loudly. And all of a sudden Harper turned and looked at me. At this point, we were told that she was completely deaf. I said to my husband, “Did you just see that she turned her head and responded to her name?” Throughout the night, we kept saying “Harper, Harper,” talking loudly, and she would turn and automatically just look at us. I knew from that moment we were in the right place and that pediatric chiropractic would save her life.

“I knew from that moment we were in the right place and that pediatric chiropractic would save her life.”, Megan Stafiej

Harper’s Transformation: From Diagnosis to Personality [00:18:00 – 00:26:00]

Megan: After we brought her home, she was finally able to gain weight. She wasn’t throwing up every single meal anymore. She was pooping regularly. We finally got six hours of sleep consistently. And her EEGs were coming back showing she wasn’t having seizure-like activity anymore. She was on about 10 medications, she was down to 2.

Dr. Tony: And this is over weeks and months. What age are we around here?

Megan: Her first adjustment was at 11 months. It was right after she turned about one and a half when everything was finally resolved. Her colic was gone. We could put her down on her back. She was doing tummy time. She was back in therapies, because we’d had to completely stop therapies. Failure to thrive, constant screaming, you can’t do therapies in that state.

Dr. Tony: What I’ve loved most about you and Trace and the way you’re wired with your daughter: you guys were like, “We’re going for it.” Let’s go to therapy, let’s get in there. Harper had that in her. She had that drive, that desire. She was like: get me out here in life. Let’s go find it. Let’s go live it.

Megan: Since we implemented pediatric chiropractic, Harper was not her diagnosis. Harper was her personality, who she was meant to be put on this earth. And that was a gift from God. She changed our lives. She taught me as a mother how to speak up for myself. She was able to finally do her therapies. She was able to stand up in a walker, eat real food and taste foods. She was able to go to the beach and swim and do all the things we were told she’d never do.

She loved Chuggington trains, she was a little obsessive about it. She loved her cats, her daddy, dancing, music, the water. She was a Florida beach girl. She loved her brother Bradley. She thrived in school. Even though she had a diagnosis and was nonverbal, she connected with everyone so well. Someone once told her mother: if someone who can’t walk and can’t talk can be this happy and joyful, why can’t I?

“Harper was not her diagnosis. Harper was her personality, who she was meant to be put on this earth.”, Megan Stafiej

From Dismissed to Advocate: Megan’s Mission [00:26:00 – 00:30:00]

Dr. Tony: You are wired to just step in, empower, encourage, make connections, get families to chiropractic, get families to the places they need to be. Where does that come from?

Megan: I don’t want any mother to ever feel the way I felt. Going into my job, I know I’m here for anyone and everyone, whether that be a mom, a dad, a child, anyone. I will be their voice if they need a voice. I will be their support if they need support. From the start of my pregnancy to the six weeks in that hospital, I was never listened to. I didn’t follow my mom gut. I was being pushed aside.

The second I walked into these chiropractic office doors, I knew I was finally okay. My family was okay. I was being heard, I was being listened to. And I wasn’t crazy.

Dr. Tony: No. You were a dead ringer for everything that was going on. It was in her nervous system. She needed to get adjusted. That’s literally what it was.

People in the natural health, holistic world, they say we rage against the machine about medicine. We’re overcooking it? No, we’re not. We’re underselling it. What it’s like in that NICU, how hopeless it truly is, how bowled over and forced into shutdown you truly are as a parent. God makes us fierce. He makes us fierce and stubborn and gritty about one thing: our kids. You want to mess with my kid? No, no, no. I’m driving a truck through your living room.

Harper’s Legacy and What Comes Next [00:30:00 – 00:34:00]

Megan: My sweet boys, Bradley and Brooks, one thing I thank God for every day because of Harper: she saved their lives. Pediatric chiropractic saved her life, and she saved my boys’ lives. I feel like if they hadn’t been adjusted since three days old, their lives would be completely different. I thank God every day that He provided when we were so hopeless and gave us hands that literally changed our lives.

Dr. Tony: When I look at my own younger kids, if God hadn’t given us chiropractic and the hands and heart to get Oliver out of the storm, would there be Elena and Amelia? Probably not. The life that your boys and my girls bring to not just us, but to others, we really did need to restore full life to Harper and Oliver so that additional life could come. That baby girl, that joyful Chuggington rockstar, is still living and rocking full out through all of us down here. Every day.

And parents listening in, there are a lot of episodes where you can hear me talk about subluxation, dysautonomia, dysregulation, vagus nerve dysfunction, prefrontal cortex. And then there will be a very regular run of these episodes where there isn’t so much science. This is one of those. The meaning of this work is Harper and her crew. We love you, Megan. Thank you.

“God makes us fierce. He makes us fierce, stubborn. He makes us gritty about one thing: our kids. You want to mess with my kid? No, no, no. I’m driving a truck through your living room.”, Dr. Tony Ebel

Frequently Asked Questions

Can premature birth cause nervous system problems in babies?

Yes. When a baby is born early, especially via emergency intervention like a C-section, the brainstem and upper cervical spine are under significant physical stress before they’ve fully developed. This can leave the child’s autonomic nervous system stuck in a state of fight-or-flight, contributing to issues like respiratory instability, failure to thrive, colic, constipation, poor sleep, and seizure-like activity. This is a core part of what Dr. Tony Ebel calls The Perfect Storm of neurological dysfunction.

What is subluxation in an infant, and why does it matter?

Subluxation refers to a misalignment or dysfunction in the spine that disrupts the nervous system’s ability to regulate the body. In premature or traumatic births, the physical forces of delivery, emergency C-sections, forceps, vacuum extraction, can create subluxation in the upper cervical spine. This can affect breathing, digestion, sleep, immune response, and the body’s overall ability to settle out of a heightened stress state. In Harper’s case, she was described as having a “severely aggravated nervous system” directly tied to this.

How does a chiropractic adjustment help a baby who’s been in the NICU?

A spinal adjustment in an infant works by removing interference in the neurospinal system and activating the Vagus Nerve and the parasympathetic nervous system, the body’s “rest and digest” pathway. As Dr. Tony Ebel explains, a deeply subluxated child who receives an adjustment has often been in a state of survival for months. The adjustment essentially signals: take a breath, nervous system. In Harper’s case, her first adjustment at 11 months led to her becoming calm for the first time, then responding to her name within an hour.

Is it normal for a baby in the NICU to have seizure-like activity that isn’t “real” seizures?

Harper’s EEG showed seizure-like activity without a formal seizure diagnosis, something her doctors attributed to an “aggravated nervous system.” This presentation is not uncommon in severely dysregulated infants. According to Dr. Tony Ebel, when the nervous system is stuck in a state of chronic stress and the brainstem is not functioning properly, irregular neurological activity can appear even when traditional seizure markers aren’t present. After consistent chiropractic care, Harper’s EEGs no longer showed this activity.

Should I trust my instincts as a parent even when doctors dismiss my concerns?

Megan’s story is a direct answer to this question. From her first trimester to Harper’s six weeks post-NICU in the hospital, every concern she raised was dismissed, including a family history of incompetent cervix that eventually led to Harper’s premature birth. The consistent message from both Megan and Dr. Tony Ebel: mom gut is real. If your child is struggling and conventional medicine has run out of answers, trusting that instinct and seeking Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care may be the next right step.

How do I find a pediatric chiropractor trained in this approach?

The PX Docs Directory lists trained Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care providers across the country. Whether you’re navigating a premature birth, NICU aftermath, or a child with chronic health challenges, PX Docs offices use INSiGHT Scans to assess nervous system function and guide care, the same approach used for Harper from her very first adjustment.

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