Friends of ours recently had a baby boy. It is their third child and second son. The excitement of his upcoming birth was all around them and they were waiting impatiently for it. But one day he stopped moving in his mother's belly and after being rushed to hospital, he was delivered by emergency C-section.
His heart had stopped, all blood drained from him. Two transfusions later, he is alive, but with severe brain damage. The doctors are gently pushing his parents to take him off life support because his organs are precious and could save the lives of other babies in dire circumstances.
Live and be so disabled as to be in a vegetative state, or die and save another. When he is off life support, he may die, or he may live. Yet no parent should ever have to make this decision.
Despite the challenges of raising a child with a disability, despite the sleepless nights, the anxiety, the financial and emotional costs, despite all of that, I get to try to be a parent. Our friends role as parents to their son has been reduced to a single choice.
Would my broken heart still sing...
If I lost it all
Would my hands stay lifted
To the God who gives
And takes away?
If You take it all
This life you've given
Still my heart will sing to you...
- Kutless
Thats true, May God give them strength and peace and something better in return for their pain.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Amen to that. And they are in our prayers.
ReplyDeleteSo heartbreaking. I wish them peace with the heartbreaking decision that they have to make and its aftermath.
ReplyDelete