A Tough Road

I discovered a blog yesterday by the husband of a lady with Cystic Fibrosis. This family has had to make some of the hardest decisions I can imagine.

Tricia had become quite ill with her CF. She was getting close to receiving a double lung tranplant that would hopefully save her life, when they discovered she was pregnant. As her father-in-law so eloquently pointed out in this post, it truly was a case where, for very good reason, the doctors were recommending abortion to preserve the life of the mother. There was virtually no chance that the mother would be able to carry the baby to term with both of them surviving the experience.

They chose to keep the baby. They believed that God had a plan, and that He gave them that child at that time for a reason.

Now, at 24 weeks into the pregnancy, the baby has had to be delivered by emergency C-section. They were attempting to intubate Tricia to buy a few more days or weeks for both her and the baby, but ended up needing to deliver the baby in the process.

Before Tricia went into the surgery, she and her husband were asked to make a heart-wrenching decision: If it came down to a choice between saving the baby or saving the mother, what did they want the doctors to do?

I don't know--I don't think any of us know--what choice I would have made in that circumstance. I don't know what choice Nathan and Tricia made. Thankfully, it didn't come down to that.

At this point both Tricia and the baby, Gwyneth Rose, are in ICU in critical condition. I'm checking in often to see how they are doing. I'm praying for them. Most of all, I'm inspired by this family's strength and faith. I'm glad I found their blogs.