A heartwarming tragedy

Every now and then, I run across a news story which reminds me of the classic drama critic's cliche, "I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me." The following Fox News story is such a story:

An Oklahoma mom has decided to give birth to her terminally ill daughter so that she can donate the newborn’s organs.

Keri Young, from Oklahoma City, was devastated to discover that her baby, who she named Eva, would be born without a portion of her brain and skull due to a condition known as anencephaly.

Keri – who learned of the child’s fate during her 20-week ultrasound – is scheduled to give birth to her child on May 7 and will likely only spend a few days with the newborn before she dies.

Her husband, Royce, was in awe of his wife’s heartbreaking choice to carry their baby — all to potentially save another child’s life, though he says he’s not surprised.

“Donating was on Keri’s mind from darn near the second we found out and while the experience of holding and kissing our daughter will be something we cherish forever, the gift(s) she’s got inside that little body of hers is what really matters. Keri saw that almost instantly,” Royce wrote in a Facebook post last week that has since been shared thousands of times.

Life has few tragedies to compare with the loss of one's child. I still remember seeing my grandmother who was in her 80's, at the funeral of her son, my uncle, at his death in his 60's. My grandmother was a woman of such stoicism as I have never seen in a human being, who had given birth 14 times (of which only 10 children survived), who could bake a cake while holding a sleeping baby (without disturbing the baby). She was reduced to weeping like a baby. I can only imagine with horror the mere idea of dying after one or both of my own children.

To be able to do what Keri Young is doing is, on the surface, inconceivable to me. How could someone want to delay the worst thing one may ever experience in their lifetime? Why would someone want to delay the intense grieving period?

And then the beauty, the inherent loveliness of the logic within her decision, hits me like a bullet in the heart. It is "when life hands you a lemon, make lemonade", but writ on a monumental scale of emotion and truth.

The practical side of Keri Young's action is beyond question: If you have a dead or dying infant, why not donate the organs? Why not give another infant the chance to live? It is logical.

But the heartwarming aspect of this is how Keri Young has taken her own tragedy and turned it into hope for someone else, and possibly many others. To deny one's own loss long enough for others to benefit is the epitome of "Love your neighbor as yourself."