Jenna kisses the hand of newborn Shane
A devout Catholic couple from Pennsylvania chose a unique way to celebrate the short life of their baby boy, Shane, who lived just four hours after being born with a rare fatal birth defect. Knowing he wouldn’t live long, they created a “bucket list” of all the places he would have enjoyed and visited each one while he was still in utero.
The Daily Mail is reporting that Jenna Gassew and Dan Haley from Upper Darby, Pennsylvania were understandably devastated when their unborn child was diagnosed at 13 weeks with a neural tube defect known as anencephaly. This condition results in the absence of part of the brain and skull. Babies who survive to birth are born blind, deaf, unconscious and unable to feel pain. They normally do not survive more than a few days.
Even though their little boy had no chance of survival, Jenna and Dan refused to abort him and celebrated his life for as long as he was with them. Throughout the pregnancy, the couple visited all the places on “Shane’s Bucket List” that they wanted him to “see”. These included baseball games, a tour of New York City, a picnic in the park, and a trip to the boardwalk. They even painted Jenna’s belly to look like a jack-o-lantern to celebrate Halloween.
“Shane has already proven to us that each day must be lived to the fullest and that is exactly what our little family is doing,” the couple wrote on their Facebook page. “Follow us through our various adventures as we take Shane to some of our favorite childhood places.”
Shane clutching a rosary
After a bittersweet nine months, Shane Michael Haley was born early on Thursday morning, October 9. Family members were all there to meet him and witness his baptism into the Catholic faith.
Four hours later, at 6:15 a.m. he died “peacefully in his mother’s arms,” the couple wrote on their Facebook page.
“Shane spent his entire life in the arms of people that loved him unconditionally, and I don’t think you could ask for a more beautiful life then that,” Dan posted.
The couple’s Facebook page, Prayers for Shane, drew more than 700,000 likes and was the portal through which thousands of people were touched by these courageous parents and the little boy whose life meant so much to them.
In their early twenties, Jenna and Dan will have plenty of time for more babies, but this one “will forever be our little miracle”.
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