Saving Grace: The story of an Amish community and the fight for their children's lives

“Saving Grace” is a series based on hours of interviews with Amish families, doctors, nurses, geneticists and Anabaptist experts over the course of a year. Many of these scenes were re-created through interviews, while others were observed by the reporter and photographer. The Amish families welcomed the reporter and photographer into their homes and to doctor appointments.

Saving Grace, Part I:Amish families are working with doctors and researchers to save a young girl’s life

Over the course of two decades, three children of a Dover Amish family have died of a rare disease that doctors, at the time, did not have a name for. When their cousin Grace Miller is born in 2016, doctors realize she has the same condition — yet will she have the same fate? Read the audio-enhanced story (best with headphones). 

Saving Grace, Part II: As another child is diagnosed with a lethal disease, Nemours doctors open clinic to help sick Amish children

The race is on to save Grace. The doctors will use what they learned from the death of John David and other Amish children to keep her alive and healthy. At the same time, the knowledge they gather may change the face of medicine for all of us. Read the audio-enhanced story (best with headphones). 

Dig deeper into the story

At the Nemours Kinder Clinic, doctors take a new approach with precision medicine

The Amish don't believe in insurance. Here's how they help pay everybody's medical bills

This is why doctors consider precision medicine to be the future of health care

About the reporter

Meredith Newman is the health reporter for Delaware Online. She previously worked for The Capital, the newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. She graduated from Syracuse University. Contact Meredith Newman at (302) 324-2386 or mnewman@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @MereNewman. 

About the photographer

Jennifer Corbett is a staff photographer for Delaware Online. For over 20 years, her photos have taken a deeper look into issues that affect Delawareans’ everyday lives. She has worked on severallong-term projects, including ones focusing on the opioid epidemic and autism community.