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EAST LIVERPOOL - On Nov. 19, Julian Alexander Nation was born with a rare condition.

East Liverpool resident and grandmother Joanie Hamilton noticed something looked different about him right after he was born at Akron City Hospital. Instead of a healthy, flesh-colored umbilical cord, Julian's was green and rotted. Another small mound of flesh was protruding near his belly-button.

According to Hamilton, Dr. Marshall Stepanian, a local obstetric gynecologist, was able to determine that Julian was suffering from a rare condition in which the bowel and small intestine are considered necrotic, or dead. Dr. Stepanian made the diagnosis after looking at a sonogram of Julian shortly before he was born.

Hamilton said the obstetrician her daughter, Halay Nation, had been seeing reportedly never performed a sonogram earlier in the pregnancy.

"I don't know why there was never one done," Hamilton said. "But they could have caught it earlier." Hamilton added if it had not been for Dr. Stepanian's diagnosis, Julian may have been stillborn. Hamilton said her daughter was referred to Akron City Hospital for the birth, and Julian later was taken to Akron Children's Hopsital.

After Julian was born, Hamilton discovered that the small mound of flesh protruding near Julian's belly-button was actually part of his dead bowel. "At first I thought it was just the belly-button," Hamilton said.

Not long after birth, a surgery was performed on Julian in an effort to save part of the bowel and small intestine. A five-inch incision was made in Julian's abdomen for the surgery. Another surgery cannot be performed on Julian until an infection has cleared up, Hamilton said.

Hamilton said the family hopes to inform as many people as possible about Julian's condition in an effort to garner prayers. "Please pray the doctors find viable organs to sustain his life," she said. "We need a Thanksgiving miracle."

In order for Julian to be able to receive a transplant or colonoscopy at least one third of Julian's bowel or small intestine will need to be usable. Julian was born four weeks premature, weighing 6-pounds and 14-ounces. He is currently in Akron Children's Hospital and doctors are keeping him on a glucose and antibiotic mix since he cannot be fed normally.

Today the Ronald McDonald house at the Akron Children's Hospital will be accommodating Hamilton and Julian's mother Halay as well as her three sisters and three cousins for Thanksgiving. Halay is married to Jon Nation and they have two other children, 2-year-old Neveah, and 14-month-old Jon Jr.

"Thanksgiving can become so much about the feast. I will certainly think of Thanksgiving a lot differently now. It's not about a feast, it's about true thanks," Hamilton said.

Hamilton said she wants people to count their own blessings today. She would also like a Thanksgiving miracle for her grandson Julian. "We want as many people to know about him so they can pray for him."