US mum to give birth to baby without brain to donate organs

She was devastated when the 19-week ultrasound scan revealed that her unborn child didn't have a brain.

But 30 seconds later through tears, the Oklahoma City mother asked the doctor: "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," her husband Royce Young shared on Facebook last week.

He was paying a tribute to his wife in a heart-wrenching post that has been shared more than 18,000 times.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/ryoung/posts/10104867314305007[/embed]

Their baby, whom they have named Eva, was going to be the little sister of their two-year-old son Harrison. But she has terminal anencephaly and is not expected to live past days after being born. She is due on May 7.

Keri first announced the agonising news two months ago on her Instagram and Facebook accounts.

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/BN-mnMjgdsA[/embed]

"Faced with terrible options we have decided to continue the pregnancy to full term so Eva, which literally means life, can grow strong and give life to multiple people through organ donation," she wrote.

Days later, she revealed in a lengthy post that she and Royce initially had second thoughts: "Continuing the pregnancy meant we would have mourn the loss of a child. We'd have to have a funeral... for a baby. OUR baby. We went to bed dreading our meeting the next day."

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/keridyoung/posts/10104623234732427[/embed]

After some deliberation, the couple chose to stick with the original plan.

"At one point in the past 72 hours Royce and I talked about how, in a way, we're a little lucky. We have a definitive answer. We're not hoping for a miracle. We know she will not live. But someone else is desperately hoping for a miracle. Their kidneys are failing them. Their liver has betrayed them. They deserve life, and they're probably praying for it. Eva can be their answer to it," Keri wrote.

Read also: Singapore baby with rare liver disease dies

She has since been sharing updates about Eva in a tone that seems exceedingly positive for someone going through such an ordeal.

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[embed]https://www.facebook.com/keridyoung/posts/10104698719051247[/embed]

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/keridyoung/posts/10104732479699637[/embed]

The latest post was a 4-D ultrasound image of Eva, whom Keri described as having "chubby cheeks and long fingers and toes".

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/keridyoung/posts/10104828806025907[/embed]

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/keridyoung/posts/10104837836453857[/embed]

huizhen@sph.com.sg