With all the fuss our relatives may have over our eventual family plans, what many people don’t talk about is just how much work goes into trying to become a parent, let alone being one.
Despite the miracles of today’s modern medicine and pregnancy care, so many issues such as miscarriages and stillborn babies still abound.
It is absolutely heartbreaking when the bundle of joy you are hoping for turns out to be a baby you cannot truly receive into the world and raise.
Such was the case for Royce and Keri Young, a couple who was hoping to become parents to a baby girl who would have been their firstborn child.
Unfortunately for them, a regular checkup revealed some bad news – the developing fetus was missing a brain.
With a heavy heart, the doctors had to inform them that although this child was still developing inside Keri’s womb, it would not survive more than a few days after birth.
It was then Keri truly showed her spirit and mettle.
Even though she was bawling and full-body ugly crying, she still managed to almost instantly look up at the doctor and ask something very important.
Should she still carry this child – who will surely die – to full term anyway, will she be able to donate the baby’s organs?
At first, the doctor was sympathetic, offering Keri a comforting hand and remarking how brave she was.
Keri, however, was dead serious.
To the amazement and encouragement of her loving husband, she would proceed to stubbornly go through with the pregnancy.
This was in spite of the fact that she knew the huge toll pregnancy would exact on the body during and post-delivery would still result in a child who would die.
Her body would be going through all the usual physical changes it does in preparation for a child that would not live long enough to experience being suckled.
All this, so that the body of their would-be daughter, Eva, can give other desperate families and their babies a chance to live.
In awe and in support of his wife’s strength and commitment, Royce had decided to write about his emotions and thoughts on the whole situation while being away from Keri in a hotel in New Orleans.
He would write how his wife of eight years and partner of fifteen had amazed him in her strength and grace, and then realize that this was something that could not be kept to just himself.
Thus, he opted instead to share everything on a Facebook post.
The post has since gone viral.
It is amazing just how much strength this couple has – especially Keri, who would have to physically bear the costs of pregnancy, and without a daughter to have and to hold at the end of it all to remind her that it was all worth it.
Although they would have very much preferred to have a child, it is still awe-inspiring just how this couple has chosen to help others in their time of grief.