A British woman who knew her 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 girl would die shortly after 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 carried the 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 to term — so she could donate the infant’s organs and save other lives.
Emma Lee, 32, and husband Drew, 51, were told 13 weeks into their pregnancy with twins that one of the two babies suffered from anencephaly, a deadly condition that prevents a brain and skull from developing.
Doctors offered an abortion, but Emma and Drew decided to go through with the pregnancy.
Baby Hope and her twin brother, Josh
Baby Hope lived 74 minutes before dying last week in her mom’s arms at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
She donated her kidneys and liver cells.
Drew Lee holds Baby Hope.Splash News
“It’s quite a heartbreaking decision to make,” Emma Lee told the Cambridge News. “If it was in different circumstances and she had just passed away after 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡, I think the decision would not have been that easy.”
The couple said they were inspired by the story of Cardiff new𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 Teddy Houlston, who had the same condition. He was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 in April and lived 100 minutes before dying and donating his heart valve and kidneys.
“When we found out Hope wouldn’t survive, knowing Teddy’s story made me confident doctors could do the same thing,” Emma Lee told the Daily Mirror.
“Today she is still living on inside someone else and it helps with the grief, it’s taken some of the pain away. I don’t think anyone spoke during the 74 minutes, we just all gave her cuddles.”
It was an easy decision to name the little girl Hope, her parents said.
“The name has really worked well. We have still got her because she is living on in other people,” Drew Lee said. “She only lived for 74 minutes but she has achieved more than some people do in a lifetime. We feel our little girl is a hero.”
The 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 of Hope’s twin brother, Josh, went off with no complications.
Emma and Drew Lee with Baby Hope’s week-old twin brother, Josh.