Husband pens viral note to wife carrying child to term following devastating prenatal diagnosis

A husband’s heartbreaking note to his wife after they received a devastating prenatal diagnosis has gone viral.

Royce Young posted a picture of his sleeping wife, Keri, on Facebook, calling her a “superhero.”

He said that although they discovered that their unborn daughter has anencephaly — which means she “doesn't have a brain” — they decided to carry her to term instead of inducing labor early.

Young wrote that he wants everyone to know how “incredible” Keri is for making that decision.

“I thought back to the moment where we found out Eva wasn't perfect, and how literally 30 seconds after our doctor told us our baby doesn't have a brain, somehow through full body ugly crying, Keri looked up and asked, "If I carry her full term, can we donate her organs?" I remember our doctor putting her hand on Keri's shoulder and saying, "Oh honey, that's so brave of you to say." Like, how nice of you, but come on. Keri meant it.”

“There I was, crestfallen and heartbroken, but I momentarily got lifted out of the moment and just stood in awe of her,” he added:

I was a spectator to my own life, watching a superhero find her superpowers. In literally the worst moment of her life, finding out her baby was going to die, it took her less than a minute to think of someone else and how her selflessness could help. It's one of the most powerful things I've ever experienced. In the eight years we've been married (and 15 years together) I've had a lot of moments stop me in my tracks where I thought, "holy crap, this woman I'm married to, lucky me." But this one was different. It hit me that not only am I married to my very best friend, but to a truly remarkable, special human being.

Young wrote that “this whole process has been rough,” but especially so for his wife.

“Keri has been in the trenches the entire time, feeling every little kick, every hiccup and every roll,” he wrote. “She's reminded every moment of every day that she's carrying a baby that will die. Her back hurts. Her feet are sore. She's got all the super fun pregnant stuff going on. But the light at the end of her nine-month tunnel will turn into a darkness she's never felt before a couple hours or days after Eva is born. She's the one that is going to deal with all that comes with having a baby-- her milk coming in, the recovery process, etc, but with no snuggly, soft, beautiful newborn to look at to remind you that it was all worth it.”

He added that their daughter, Eva, “is alive and our daughter deserves to meet her mama and daddy, gave us a purpose to continue on.”

“There's another family out there hurting and hoping for a miracle for their baby, knowing full well someone else's baby will need to die first. Eva can be that miracle,” Young wrote.

In her own Facebook post, Keri wrote that "Eva will have life even though it will be short.”

"She'll donate anything she can and do more in her time on earth than I ever will," she added.

Young told The Huffington Post that the family has been overwhelmed by the online response to his post.

“I love her, and watching her courage and strength is just something that’s inspires me,” he said.

“Keri, like me, is pretty private, and it’s hard to be vulnerable and expose your emotions,” he added. “But this is a unique situation, and throughout everything we’ve talked about trying to minimize regret. And I don’t want to look back years from now and think about how I missed an opportunity to tell people about how terrific Keri is handling this. We want to live in the present with this, and have something tangible to remember it with as we get older.”

(H/T Independent Journal Review)