Miracle Child Picked for Downtown Christmas Tree Lighting

TYLER – The 2016 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Miracle Child for Tyler is Luke Skinner, who will light downtown Tyler’s Christmas tree following the Tyler Rotary Club Christmas parade Thursday evening. According to a news release from Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals and Clinics, Luke survived a turbulent birth while his mother was on vacation at 31 weeks pregnant. She began suffering abdominal pain that was diagnosed as a life-threatening complication, and Luke had to be delivered early by an emergency C-section performed at Mother Frances Hospital. He weighed just two pounds, 12 ounces at birth and was placed in the neonatal intensive care unit while his mother spent two days in a coma. Eventually, Luke and his mom became healthy, and according to the news release, “by the way he runs, jumps and plays, you would never know that Luke…had a turbulent entrance into the world.” The parade kicks off at 6 p.m. Thursday, with the tree lighting to follow.