On May 7th, 2005, the day before Mothers' Day, Susan M. (Rollin) Torres -- a 26-year-old vaccine researcher at NIH; mother of a two-year-old son, Peter; graduate of the University of Dallas; and parishioner at St. Rita's Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia collapsed. She was rushed to the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, where she was been diagnosed with stage four melanoma and was brain dead with no hope of recovery.
Susan was 17 weeks pregnant at the time and although the doctors gave her no hope of survival, they fought to keep her unborn child alive until it had a viable chance at life.
Yesterday the baby was born via c-section (Susan Ann Torres) and the husband who spent each and every day praying at her bedside made the painful decision to take the mother off of life support.
There are so many aspects to this story. Obviously it illustrates how important it is that we appreciate every single day, because everything could change for any of us in an instant.
It was heartwarming to see a husband show the devotion that Mr. Torres showed his wife in her final days.
I also believe that there was a miracle involved in the fact that she managed to hang in there long enough to let the child inside of her develop to the point of being able to begin it's life outside of the womb.
It's a sad and yet uplifting story at the same time. I just wanted to post something about it in case anyone wasn't aware of the story, or how it turned out.
That was an incredible story - tragic and hopeful at the same time. The baby was only 1 pound something ounces when born - just barely viable. I hope everything goes well, they've aquired over $400,000 in donations toward astronomical medical costs... What a road ahead....
