A couple from Mustang, Oklahoma made a truly noble decision to carry their baby to full term even though they knew that the child would only live for a couple of hours, the Metro reports.
Keri Young and her husband, Royce, decided to keep their terminally-ill baby in hopes of harvesting the organs and donate them to those who are in dire need of new ones. The baby, who’s named Eva, was diagnose with anencephaly. It means that the baby will not have a fully developed brain.
The couple only found out about Eva’s condition when Keri was already carrying her for about 19 weeks through an ultrasound scan. However, she decided to continue with the pregnancy and not to induce emergency labor.
Keri posted a photo of an ultrasound scan of her baby on Instagram. She wrote as a comment:
“This is our daughter's perfect heart. She has perfect feet and perfect hands. She has perfect kidneys, perfect lungs and a perfect liver. Sadly, she doesn't have a perfect brain. We found out recently she has anencephaly and is terminal.
“Faced with terrible options we have decided to continue the pregnancy to full term so Eva, which literally means life, can grow strong and give life to multiple people through organ donation. This was not an easy decision.
“For the next 20 weeks, I will feel her kick, have the hiccups and we'll be able to hear her perfect heart beating all while knowing we'll only get a few short hours with her when she's born. As you might expect, we're devastated but have an amazing support system with our family, friends, church and doctors.
“We're choosing to try and see the positives in this situation and cherish our time with Eva, and be grateful for the impact she will have on the world in the short amount of time she'll spend in it.”
The couple’s baby will be born in May. Keri decided to write about her current journey and post them on Facebook to share with her friends and others who are interested in knowing what she’s going through.
About a month ago, Keri wrote a post where she listed down the highs and lows of her state at that time. Although she was still struggling to accept the fact that her baby has a fatal condition, she was happy that Eva can swallow and that she’s growing quite accordingly, except for her brain.
Keri said, “Thanks to everyone for being so incredibly nice to us during all this. You'll never know the impact you've had on us.”
