When Lindsay and Jacob Quillin moved into Lake Forest in May 2020, they couldn’t have known just how profoundly the neighborhood—and their family—would grow in just a few short years. Now, with their 13-month-old son Carter in their arms and a story of strength that’s touched every corner of the community, the Quillins are living proof of how love, family, and faith can carry you through even the darkest days.

Lindsay, a Louisville native, and Jacob, originally from Danville, met while attending Western Kentucky University. Lindsay was active in her sorority, serving as president her last year. Jacob focused on his health care administration degree, even spending five weeks in Tanzania, Africa working in local hospitals/clinics. Their paths crossed through mutual friends—connections that would become even stronger when Jacob’s lifelong friend married Lindsay’s sister. Eventually, the two couples became next-door neighbors in Lake Forest, sharing not just a walkway between their yards but a bond that’s more like family than friendship.

Professionally, Jacob works for The Rawlings Group as a subrogation analyst, a role he genuinely enjoys. Lindsay spent over a decade working as a pharmaceutical representative, specializing in diabetes care—a field she was deeply passionate about, especially as someone living with Type 1 diabetes since the age of two. “My work was my passion,” Lindsay shares. “But our son became our new big adventure.” That son, Carter, who was adopted by the Quillins, brought an entirely new purpose to their lives.

Born three months premature on January 4, 2024, Carter weighed just over two pounds. His start in life was fraught with overwhelming odds. Diagnosed with severe medical conditions, including intrauterine drug exposure, Grade IV IVH (a type of brain bleed), hydrocephalus, sepsis, cerebral palsy, and white matter brain injury, Carter spent the first three months of his life alone in a NICU in Indiana. He endured a laundry list of diagnoses, and doctors gave him less than a one percent chance of surviving his first night. That night, a DNR was signed. But Carter had other plans. Night after night, he kept fighting. After two grueling weeks on a ventilator and feeding tube, the NICU staff began calling him “miracle boy.” He had defied the odds. Lindsay shares, "He’s been known that way, miracle boy, by all that meet him, ever since. Carter sticks with you- that shy, toothy smile and those big, beautiful, brown eyes." And soon after, Lindsay and Jacob received the call that would change everything—they were being asked to consider adopting this tiny warrior. 

The Quillins adopted Carter when he was nearly four months old. From the moment he came home, he became the heartbeat of their family. Lindsay made the difficult decision to leave her career to become Carter’s full-time caretaker. “It was the best thing I’ve ever done,” she says. “Carter is our whole world and our whole heart.”

In his first year of life, Carter has undergone two brain surgeries, one abdominal surgery, and endured over a dozen emergency hospital visits. He attends therapy and doctor appointments up to four times a week and continues to amaze his medical team. Diagnosed with spastic cerebral palsy, he’s learning to navigate life with limited use of his right hand—but nothing slows him down. He crawls like a champ, talks up a storm, and loves books, music, and animals. “He’s silly, chatty, giggly, curious—and literally unstoppable,” Lindsay beams. “You would never know his past by just meeting him.”

Behind the scenes, the Quillins have found strength not only in their faith and each other but also in the support of their Lake Forest neighbors. Lindsay credits the McDonald family—longtime residents and close friends of her parents—with helping them navigate Carter’s complex medical needs. From connecting them to trusted pediatricians to standing by their side during ER visits, the McDonalds and others have shown the kind of selfless love that defines the Lake Forest spirit.

The whole family rallies around Carter. Living just a mile down the road, Grammy and Papaw (Lindsay’s parents) built a three-story backyard clubhouse just for the grandkids, host weekly family dinners, and never miss a surgery or doctor’s appointment. Carter adores them—as well as his cousins (Brooks, Beck, and baby Reese) and Aunt Abby and Uncle Clay, who also live just steps away. "We raise our kids together as best friends and more like siblings than cousins. It’s the best feeling to be so close to people we love so much," Lindsay tells us. With so many members of their family living in the neighborhood, they refer to themselves as the "Lake Forest Family!"

“We are so blessed to raise our son in this incredible community,” Lindsay says. “Carter’s story is one of hope. We want others to know that miracles do happen—and that even the smallest lives can teach us the biggest lessons.”