To all of our readers and friends in the Catholic/Pro-life blogosphere:
As you know, we here at CMR do not take much seriously but life issues are a notable exception.
This week on CMR, we are going to be doing something different that we believe to be very important. We will be running a week-long series telling an incredible and gut-wrenching true story about life, death, abortion, and betrayal..
This is a story that needs to be told because it details the heroic efforts of those dedicated to life, the affirmation of the value of every life no matter how small or short, and the betrayal of institutions that are supposed to be dedicated to the culture of life.
So I write this now as a special request. If you have a blog, please follow and link these stories. If you do not have a blog, please email this story to your pro-life friends. If you have access to an Internet forum, please post a link to these stories.
We believe this story is incredibly important and we ask you, our readers and friends, to help us make it known far and wide because at the end of the series we will be issuing a call to action.
The series, “The Baby Gianna Story” will begin on Monday, so please check back and do whatever you can to help.
Thank you in advance.
Matthew & Patrick
The Baby Gianna Story Part 1 – Part I: Answering the Call
February 14, 2010 at 10:19 pm
~As the mother of a child who was prenatally diagnosed with Trisomy 13, I find this subject to be of great interest to me. I was told that I should just allow nature to take its course at birth, meaning not to try and do anything to assist in his survival should he be born alive and possibly require oxygen or any other form of treatment at birth, OR it was recommended to me that I abort my unborn son to save myself and my surviving children from the burden of possibly raising a disabled child.
The amniocentesis test was performed just prior to my fifth month of pregnancy. By the time the test results were obtained three weeks later, I was into that 5th month. I could not fathom ending the life of my sweet son and I made my desires well known that he would be treated at birth just as any other 'normal' baby would be. I wish I could say that my stance was respected by all in the medical profession, but it was not.
I chronicled my entire pregnancy, from conception through those trying days of waiting for test results, up to the birth and funeral of my son.
He lived for 8 days, and although it was very sad to watch him slip away in my arms, I feel tremendous unconditional love and gratitude for the gift that he continues to be in our lives. Through the pregnancy and into the days of his wake and funeral, our family came together as never before.
My sons love their baby brother and we speak of him freely any time that we feel like it. Each night we thank God for giving us Bennett-Chadlen, and we blow "angel kisses" to my sweet angel babies.
Because of Bennett-Chadlen's diagnosis and possibility of living with disabilities should he have survived, my sons now have a very different respect and acceptance of those within our communities who also live with any type of disability due to birth defects, illness, or accident. I know that my sons will grow up with a very healthy respect for all life, and will go on to raise their future children with compassion, as I have done with them.
My blog for my son can be found here, should you choose to check it out:
http://my-baby-is-an-angel.blogspot.com/
I look forward to following your stories this coming week.
God bless!
Melissa, mom to 6 gorgeous sons, 4 here on Earth, and 2 in the Spirit World.
February 15, 2010 at 2:21 am
Ooooh … all right, I'll link to it. (sigh!)