One More Day Alive

” A few years ago I met an amazing mother who risked her life to protect her unborn baby.

After years of praying to God for a child, Robyn and her husband finally heard the words they always dreamed of hearing: they were going to have a baby.

But there was only one problem. The doctor also informed her she was suffering from a rare and life-threatening kidney disease, and having that baby could kill her.

Then came the words she and her husband could never have even imagined hearing: her doctor suggested she have an abortion.

Delivering the child to term would put incredible demands on her slowly degenerating kidneys, accelerating their failure. Her chances of surviving the pregnancy were slim. Not to mention the pain and suffering that she would endure even trying to do so. He assured her nobody would fault her for taking the prudent course.

But Robyn wouldn’t even give it a thought; she refused to kill her child. If it was God’s will that she and her child die trying to make it through this together, then so be it, she insisted. She had prayed for this blessing for years and she knew God would see her through, whatever the outcome.

It wasn’t easy by a long shot. By her seventh month, the news wasn’t good. After collapsing one day, they rushed her to the hospital and confirmed what they already knew – her kidneys were giving out and she didn’t have much time left.

Robyn was restricted to bed rest, while everyone hoped and prayed she could make it the final two months. But a month later with her blood pressure soaring, her ankles swollen to the size of grapefruits and with barely enough strength to lift her head, her doctor decided they had no choice but to induce early delivery.

For 12 grueling hours, Robyn struggled to bring her baby into the world, while the doctors fed her nutrients to try to keep her alive. Then it happened. She was the proud mother of a healthy five pound, five-ounce baby boy.

Amazingly after the delivery, her health rebounded for a short time. But it didn’t last. For the next 18 years she fought an uphill battle. Countless medical procedures, painful weekly dialysis procedures and one failed transplant later, she was dying.

Yet through it all, she had been a champ of a mom. So much so that her little baby boy was all grown up now, almost 18 years old, had one dream – to pay his mother back for saving his life all those years ago.

At her son’s request and without his mother’s knowledge, he asked doctors to find out if his kidney was compatible. Though not a perfect match, a modern procedure called cross-matching would allow the transplant to work.

At first Robyn refused. She wasn’t about to let the son she saved risk his life for her. But there was no talking him out of it. He was determined to save her.

A full day of surgery later, mother and child awoke in gurneys next to each other. The operation was a rousing success, and they both lived happily ever after. I have never found anything that can make one human being rise above circumstance and to such greatness and great love than that of a mother’s love for a child. For all of us who will never know the joy of being a mother, hopefully we have known the joy of having one that did just that.

I know that I did, and I thank God for it every day of my life. “

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