A couple who chose to carry their terminally ill baby to term in order to save the lives of others have revealed they said “hello and goodbye” to their baby girl last week.
Keri and Royce Young’s story went viral after Royce posted a loving tribute to his “truly remarkable” best friend on Facebook.
“In literally the worst moment of her life, finding out her baby was going to die, it took her less than a minute to think of someone else and how her selflessness could help,” he wrote in a moving post, that was later shared by page Love What Matters.
During their 19-week ultrasound, Keri and Royce’s baby was diagnosed with anencephaly, a birth defect which causes a baby to be born without parts of their brain and skull.
They were told their daughter was not expected to live for more than a few days after her birth.
“This is our daughter’s perfect heart. She has perfect feet and perfect hands. She has perfect kidneys, perfect lungs and a perfect liver,” Keri shared on social media at the time.
“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.”
LISTEN:What do you say to someone who’s lost a baby?
For 20 weeks, Keri would feel her baby daughter move inside her knowing that she would only have a few precious hours with her after she was born.
The couple have now announced that on April 17, baby Eva was born.
She passed away the same day.
“We said hello and goodbye to our sweet Eva yesterday. She was so perfect in her own little way,” Keri wrote on Instagram, adding that she would share more about Eva’s “incredible story” at a later date.
Royce shared the same message on his Instagram, posting a photo holding his baby daughter in his arms.
Now the couple say they are focused on their “super cute, fun, adorable” two-year-old son who they credit with “always making us smile”.
Top Comments
Amazing woman
Not something i could do
That's beautiful. I'm glad they were able to "meet" her, even for only a short time, and help other families in the process.