Social Media Saves the Life of Unborn Baby with Down's

An unidentified couple was told the news that their unborn baby has Down's Syndrome.  For whatever reasons the couple decided not to raise the child and was looking into abortion.  A Catholic priest from Virginia heard the story and appealed to the couple to put the child up for adoption.  The couple was willing to do that, but they had only a very short period of time before the window for available abortions would be closed to them.  

The Church decided to use social media to try and find a couple that would open their hearts and their homes to a special needs child for a lifetime.  

“There is a couple in another state who have contacted an adoption agency looking for a family to adopt their Down Syndrome unborn baby. If a couple has not been found by today they plan to abort the baby. If you are interested in adopting this baby please contact Fr. VW IMMEDIATELY.  We are asking all to pray for this baby and the wisdom that this couple realize the importance of human life and do not abort this beautiful gift from God.”

The response they received was overwhelming to the point they had to call in volunteers to help field all the calls and emails that they received; more than 900 emails and a phone that rang off the hook all day.  People did open their hearts to that precious unborn baby who was facing imminent death through a late term abortion.  

They have narrowed it down to three families and the couple, along with a adoption agency, are screening these couples to make a decision as who would be best able to raise this child with the love and dignity it deserves.  

One of the many things that is told to people out there is that no one will adopt a special needs child.  That simply isn't true.  Many families out there have raised children of their own, and for whatever reason feel a calling to raise a special needs child after being so blessed with other children.  Some families have been in a waiting line that can sometimes stretch by years waiting for "healthy" child and realize that they can love a child with Down's just as easily as they would love a "normal" baby.  In fact, many people realize that adoption is a much easier process if they are willing to take children that may be a little older, bi-racial, or special needs.  They want to love a child and to have a family.  

Raising a child with special needs is more challenging, but the rewards of it are great.  

The next time a pro-choice person insists that pro life people aren't interested in helping children once they are born, this will give them some pause.  If you find yourself in a situation that you are daunted by, just go to your local church and talk to them.  They will help find you a family that will not only raise your child, but love them unconditionally.  

God Bless this couple for reaching out and looking for another solution before ending the life of their baby and bless the people who stepped up and reached out to give a home to child in need.  

This is how you change hearts and minds about abortion.  

Gee, We Wonder Why Life Isn’t Precious Anymore – Mom Leaves Newborn to Die, No Jail Time

We can talk about gun control until the cows come home, but it won't really help what is ailing this society.  I know very few people who are so militant about gun rights that they feel certain restrictions should be placed on who is able to purchase a gun.  I know that some exist, but they are the minority.  Most will agree that the mentally ill and people with criminal histories shouldn't be allowed to have guns.  The disagreements come on what other restrictions should be in place for law-abiding citizens.  We have laws in place that should protect us from criminals and the insane.  Those laws should be followed.  

What we never really discuss after a tragedy as what occurred in Newtown, is where we place the value of human life in the grand scheme of things in our daily lives and our society.  I am not even going to into the abortion discussion, because most people are immovable on this topic, and will remain that way, while there is always room for an epiphany, those are usually very personal episodes.  

What I would like to talk about is the role of life in general.  Recently a young mother was pregnant for the second time.  She says that she had no idea that she was so.  One night while on a family outing at the circus, she grabs her daughter and goes to use the lady's room.  She sent a text to another family member to come get her daughter due to stomach issues.  She then proceeds to give birth in that bathroom stall.  She leaves her newborn son in the toilet, surrounded by his own blood and presumably his placenta, and goes home.  The baby boy was found approximately 90 minutes later up to his neck in water and at a temperature of 85 degrees.  Thank heavens the little boy is doing fine and is said to be developing normally.  

Jessica Blackham, now 26, has given up her parental rights to the baby.  I am sure by now he has been adopted, presumably to a loving family that realizes how precious this little boy really is.  

Jessica has been judged in a court of law and has been sentenced.  One year of house arrest, three years of probation, counseling, and faces random drug tests.  Once she finishes her one year of house arrest, her five-year prison will be forgotten.  So let me get this straight, she left a helpless newborn baby in a toilet full of blood and gets no jail time.  

'Miss Blackham, you are not standard fare up here and I think your attorney's assessment that you will not be back is accurate,'

So said the judge who normally deals with crack and meth heads, reports show it took the judge a full couple of minutes to sentence her.  He thought about her sentence that carefully.  

While it is true that she had no prior criminal record that doesn't mean that absolves her from her crimes.  She left that baby to die.  Her own flesh and blood.  She says that she has no memory of giving birth and denies even knowing she was pregnant.  Now, didn't she gain any weight during this pregnancy?  Most woman gain somewhere between 20 and 30 pounds.  Didn't anyone else in her family notice that?  If she was hiding weight gain, wouldn't that fly in the face of her testimony?  Didn't she feel that baby kick?  Did she not realize that she wasn't getting her periods anymore?  While it is true that some women will have some bleeding during their entire pregnancy, that is pretty rare.  I mean this is a woman who was pregnant once before and was 25 at the time of the birth.  

Is it really so hard to believe that our children are growing up without a moral compass?  Is is really so hard to understand that they don't see life as sacred and precious?  This judge didn't and he is a grown man.  This woman didn't and she is already a mother of another child.  The only people who seemed to understand the importance of the that baby boy's life was the cleaning crew who found him and the doctors who saved his life that early morning.  This baby has been further dehumanized by this sentance.  His mother threw him away like he was trash.  

A baby was left to die in toilet filled with blood, other bodily fluids, his own after birth, and water and the punishment is that she gets to sit in the comfort of her own home for a year.  She can watch whatever television show she wants, she will sleep in her own bed, she can use the internet, she can have guests over.  Heck I guess if she wanted to she could get pregnant again if she is so inclined.  That isn't a punishment.  Especially when you consider that she lives in state that has a law that if you leave your newborn at a hospital, church, or other safe environment, you will not be prosecuted.  She could have picked up this baby and dropped him at any number of places and choose instead to leave him in filth to die.  

You can take away more and more rights on gun ownership in this country all you want, until you change this, it won't accomplish a damn thing.  

Avery Did - Every LIfe has Value

Avery Lynn Canahuati passed away on Monday.  She was a little shy of 6 months old.  She suffered from a rare genetic disorder Spinal Muscular Atrophy, the #1 genetic disorder that causes death in children under 2.  She was diagnosed on 4/6/12.  She lived less than a month after her family received the news.

Her remarkable parents decided to create a "bucket list" for their precious baby.  Instead of crying and cursing God, they decided to give Avery a life as whole as possible.  They had all these dreams for their baby girl; as every parent does.  But they had little time, but they decided to make the best of what they were given.   The most recent blog post announces the death of their precious baby.

Avery Lynn Canahuati 11/11/11 - 04/30/12

Hello everyone this is Avery's father.  Avery passed away yesterday sometime around 3pm due to pulmonary complications related to SMA.  In short, one of her lungs collapsed and she went into cardiac arrest.  I immediately performed CPR on her and was able to bring her back to life, but only for a brief period of time before she passed away shortly after arriving at the hospital.  Avery's passing this quickly came as a complete shock to all of us, as she had just been given a thumbs up at her last doctors appointment only three days ago. While we were aware of the severity of her diagnosis, we never lost hope for Avery and even in her passing, we still have hope for our daughter and all of her friends.  I'm going to share a note Avery gave me back when all of this started, but made me promise not to open until I knew the time was right...Dear Mommy & Daddy:

If you're reading this it's because I've gone to take care of my Uncle Bryant, Nana Carolyn, Papa George, and all my great Grandparents.  I love you veeeeeeeeeery much.  Also, tell Nana & G-Pa I love them too.  In fact, tell everyone who loved me that I love them and I appreciate them caring about me.


When I started writing my blog, I thought I'd only be speaking to my closest friends and family members.  Little did I know soooooooo many people would care about me and while I'm flattered to have so many people who love me, I hope they will also take time to love and care about all of my friends out there with SMA.


You see, I'd never heard of SMA prior to being diagnosed with it, yet there's thousands of my friends out there living with it today and millions of my future friends parents who are unknowingly carriers of the SMA gene.  Without awareness and without a cure, I'm afraid more of my friends are at risk to have their lives drastically shortened by SMA.


When people think of me, I hope they'll also think of all my friends who have been through this and who are going through this now.  But what I really hope for is that when people think about me, they will not waste time sitting there feeling sorry for me, rather I hope they will STAND UP in honor of me and all of my friends (past, present, and future).  And they can do so by spreading awareness and helping to fund a cure for my friends.


To all my SMAns, you followed me, now please follow all of my friends.  


Mommy.  Daddy.  I love you every bit as much as you love me.  And while I'm not here physically, I will forever live in your minds, as you will mine.
Love always,
Avery, Aviator, Aves, Scuttlebutt

For those who don't believe that every life has value, go and look at the pictures that this family took of their sweet girl over the last month of her life.  They went to baseball games, celebrated Easter, got removable tattoos, among many other activities.  Her bucket list.

Avery's short life shows how much love is brought into the lives of a family, even when that child isn't "perfect" by society's standards.  Her family was given a gift.  One that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.  The world has been given a gift because of this family money is being raised to do more research to help bring a cure.  It is too late for Avery, but there is renewed hope for all the Avery's that come later.  They may be able to live longer, fuller lives by the generosity of her family.

To Avery's family, our hearts are with you during your time of grief.  Rest in Peace, Avery.

Grab a box of tissues and read her story.

The Slippery Slope of Liberalism Part 3

When you think that you have heard the lowest of the low that the Canadian teenager can kill her baby and not be sentenced to a jail term then comes another story that is even more disturbing. It is disturbing because it just further proves that we, as a society, no longer value life.


Ana Mejia and Rodolfo Santana are now millionaires four times over. They didn't win the lottery (at least not in the literal sense), no they gave birth to a child with a rare disability that left with him with no arms and only one leg. See, had they found out that piece of information during the pregnancy they would have aborted the child. But since they ELECTED not to have the amniocentesis that would have shown the disability they were not made aware of it until baby Bryan made his way into the world.

According to the couple's attorney the ultrasound should have shown this disability, so the doctor is 85% responsible and the technician that performed the ultrasound is 15% responsible.

“They went from the heights of joyous expectations to the depths of despair,” their attorney Robert Bergin told the jury in closing arguments Wednesday, according to the newspaper. “Ana and Rodolfo Santana know their mental anguish and their emotions are not important. The only thing that will help make up for their mental anguish is to know Bryan’s life plan is fully funded.”

If their mental anguish and emotions were not important why would they need the money to make up for it? Above and beyond the fact that we live in a litigious society that someone has gotten the notion that money can make up for all ills, let's just talk about this helpless child for a little bit. It is now on public record that his parents would have prefered that he were dead rather than raise a child with disabilities. Baby Bryan is now three years old and an otherwise healthy and happy little boy. How can they say he would be better off dead?

What are we saying as a society that if you are not perfect you should be dead? And who exactly gets to define what perfect means? Had he only been missing one limb would that make him less likely to face death in the womb? Or did he need to have all four limbs for his parents to want him?

Andrea Williams CEO of Christian Concern hits the nail on the head:

“It perpetuates the myth that life is not worth living if you have a disability and indicates a chillingly utilitarian view of personhood,” she said. “Children are not commodities and we cannot dispose of them when they fail to meet our expectations, either in appearance or ability. This view safeguards life and prevents the callous and barbaric treatment of those born, or about to be born, with disabilities.”

The parents of baby Bryan should talk to Marc Sherman, Program Director for AccessABILITY Center for Independent Living, Inc who suffers from the same disability that their child suffers from. It would seem pretty obvious that Marc has found a way to live a product life even though he is not "perfect" and according to these parents that he would be better off dead. His reaction:

A disability is just a natural part of life. A person with a disability has just as much worth and just as much as importance as anybody else. It doesn’t matter what kind of disability, they have just as much worth and importance. They should get to choose how they want to live.’”

We have become a society of barbarians that we can turn around and give millions of dollars to a family because they wish their child have never been born, because someone has decided he is not perfect. This family should have turned to God, then they would have realized baby Bryan was born in his image and he is perfect, even with just one limb.

For the majority of my adult life I have been pro-choice. No more. The more research you do into the topic of abortion the more you will realize that it isn't done for the child, it is done out of selfishness. We have become a society that uses as an excuse woman's body, woman's choice, when what we are really doing is making designer babies and refusing to take responsibility for the choices that we make. If you don't want children, don't have sex. Believe me when I tell, you will not explode. You will survive. When you get pregnant you will get what God gives you. Even a disabled child brings joy into your life. Yes, it is hard, but the rewards are worth the work.