After Devastating Ultrasound, a Remarkable Decision

Eva will be born so her organs can be donated
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 25, 2017 12:26 PM CST
After Devastating Ultrasound, a Remarkable Decision
Keri and Royce Young have chosen to carry their terminally ill baby to term so that they can donate her organs.   (Keri Young/Facebook)

Keri Young was nearly halfway through her pregnancy when she and her husband learned that the girl she was carrying was terminally ill. Suffering from anencephaly, the fetus was developing without parts of her brain, and in almost all cases these babies die within a day or two of birth, reports the New York Daily News. But in a Facebook post that has gone viral, the Oklahoma woman wrote that she has decided to carry Eva to term, and that she'll "donate anything she can and do more in her time on earth than I ever will." Young says she made the decision when her previous doctor called to tell her it would be the most selfless thing she'd ever do.

Now husband Royce, a writer for ESPN, has penned a follow-up Facebook post that has also gone viral about how his wife has been "in the trenches," feeling every kick and hiccup. "She's cut from a different cloth, combining wit, beauty, courage, silliness, character and integrity into one spectacular woman," he writes. He tells CNN it would be "irresponsible" to not share Eva with others in need, and adds that "choice can mean life." He says they're private people, but tells Huffington Post that they won't get to "brag about her grades or how pretty her hair is; this is what we get to tell people about." Doctors say that Eva's heart valves, kidneys, and liver can be donated to others, and her lungs to research. Her due date is May 7. (One man's donated heart stays in the family, by chance.)

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