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23-year old Krysta Davis and her boyfriend, Derek Lovett, conceived a baby girl who was to be named Rylei. Unfortunately, by 18 weeks they were informed that Rylei had a neural tube defect called anencephaly which is characterized by the absence of a part of brain or skull. Doctors predicted a survival time of 30 minutes for Rylei if she survived birth.
Krysta and Derek could either decide to abort the baby at 18 weeks or carry the baby up to full term to donate her healthy organs to needy babies. In spite of knowing that her baby wouldn’t survive post birth, Krysta agreed to continue her pregnancy.
To everyone’s surprise, when Rylei was born at 40 weeks 2 days on December 24th, 2018, she survived for one week, way longer than the predicted 30 minutes time. Her heart valves were donated to two children and her lungs were given to a research hospital.
Krysta feels glad that they had one week with Rylei and says that,
“We decided that even if we couldn’t bring our daughter home, no mother would have to go through what we were going to go through,”
It needs courage and an underlying quality of kindness to carry a dying baby to full term and go through labor and birth solely to help survive another child. How heart-warming it is hear this story of a bereaved mother!
Read the full story here.
More about We are The World Blogfest
“We are The World Blogfest” was initiated by Damyanti Biswas and Belinda Witzenhausen on 31st March 2017. WATWB seeks to promote positive news. It believes that there are many an oasis of love and light out there, stories that show compassion and the resilience of the human spirit and that sharing these stories increases our awareness of hope in our increasingly dark world.
This month’s WATWB event is co-hosted by wonderful bloggers, Inderpreet Uppal, Shilpa Garg, Sylvia McGrath , Peter Nena, Belinda WitzenHausen . Please do visit their blogs to read more touching stories from around the world. And let’s spread this circle of love and peace through our social media channels with the hashtag #WATWB
If you are a blogger and would like to sign-up for WATWB and be a part of this meaningful network, visit here.
Wow, just wow…*teary-eyed* What an incredibly selfless thing for Krysta and Derek to do. In their heartbreak, they’ve found a meaningful and beautiful tribute to honour Rylei and help others. Such a touching story, thanks so much for sharing and for being part of #WATWB.
Definitely! This was one of the most touching stories I’ve ever heard.
Great post. What a woman she is. Big heart!
Yes, an incredible thing to hear!
amazing story Nandhini, thank you for sharing it! It was someone else’s #WATWB choice for this month, so it is lovely to see that Krysta’s story is gaining traction …
Amazing coincidence! Sure this story has the power to reinstate human love for one another and needs to be written far and wide.
Every time I read this story that we both chose to share, I get something new from it. You did a beautiful job with the story, and got me thinking and wondering. Krysta and Derek were certainly brave and kind to carry Rylei to term knowing what would happen. But maybe Rylei didn’t know she was dying when she was living inside her mom. I don’t think she knew on a conscious level, how long most babies live. She surely did know she was loved. She lived her best in her short life. She was part of a family of heroes. Thank you for this.
Rylei is a soul to be remembered! Thanks for your time here, Joanna. Looking forward to this month’s WATWB stories.
That’s so sad but such a beautiful, caring and selfless thing to do 😞
Yes, the fact that Rylei survived for a week must have been a joy beyond measure for Krysta and Derek.