An expectant mother from Thailand had to endure 33 hours of labor so she could give birth to her stillborn baby for research last month.
Singaporean Eugene Wee and his Thai wife Puu Kanokrat, both 37, were devastated after learning that the first child they were expecting would not be able to survive.
Kanokrat was five months pregnant when doctors told them that their unborn child was suffering from chromosomal abnormalities and would end up stillborn.
Wee and Kanokrat got married last year and are currently based in Thailand.
Wee, the founder of Christian non-profit group Radion International, recently shared their plight in a Facebook post on Sunday in which he first wrote about how unimportant physical looks have become for them.
“At our age, we know that physical looks, like all material things, will fade. And what remains is our faith, our conviction and our love for lives.”
He then went on to tell the story of how they lost their unborn baby in August.
“The child had Trisomy 18 – a rare chromosome condition that often came with severe mental disabilities, multiple physical deformations and in most cases it was incompatible with life. Our child was all three.”
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According to Wee, the rare condition, which is also known as Edward’s Syndrome, affects just one in 6,000 pregnancies.
When professors at Chiangmai University requested for Kanokrat to allow medical students to witness a detailed scan of the fetus, they were faced with making a huge sacrifice as it would exact both emotional pain and physical stress for the wife.
“For four hours, my wife chose to stay on the ultrasound so every medical student could glean as much knowledge as they could from the fetus,” Wee wrote.
“It was painful for her. Hearing them discuss her own child’s brain, the enlarged heart, the missing arms, the face, the lack of organs, etc.”
Following the scan, the medical faculty then asked for an even more difficult request that meant keeping the fetus inside Kanokrat longer “for future research and studies.”
This would subject Kanokrat through “hours of painful labor” just to give birth to a stillborn baby.
“If my child needs to die, then it should not have to be in vain,” wrote Wee, indicating his wife’s courage in taking on such a task.
While Kanokrat could give up anytime throughout the process, she was determined to go through with it in an incredible display of sacrifice. The fetus was “delivered in silence” and then rushed to be preserved after the delivery process that took 33 grueling hours.
At the end of his now-viral post, Wee wished his heroic wife a happy birthday.
“To my wife, my hero, my better half: Your faith, your conviction, your values, your sacrifice has inspired me to embark on this journey to make a difference,” Wee wrote. “Happy birthday! I’m flying back to be with you soon!”
Netizens expressed their support and admiration for Kanokrat’s deed.
“No words could describe how this mother had endured the suffering pain. Great sacrifice,” a Facebook user commented.
“God bless you both with healthy babies very soon,” one commenter wrote.
“You’re beautiful inside and out,” another netizen said.
Featured Image via Facebook / Eugene Wee
