Tragically, 68% of unborn children who are diagnosed with spina bifida in utero die from abortion. Jacob Shaw could have been one of these children if it weren’t for his mother’s decision to choose life for her son.
At a 20-week prenatal scan Kirsty Mair found out that her child would have spina bifida and would not live beyond his first birthday. Unfortunately, the bad news didn’t end there— not only did little Jacob have spina bifida, he also had a rare deformity where his brain sits on top of his spinal cord. Kirsty’s doctors offered abortion but she refused and now her son recently celebrated his third birthday.
Over the course of the last two years, Jacob has undergone 17 surgeries and has lived at the hospital; however, his mother believes he has defied the odds and is a survivor.
Kirsty said, “He’s like a little soldier, he just keeps on fighting. I think he’s trying to tell us that he’s here for a reason. They said he wouldn’t talk or be able to roll or sit up himself but he is able to do all those things.”
Additionally, doctors anticipated that Jacob would have to stay on oxygen while sleeping but he was able to come off of it two months ago. Jacob does need a wheelchair since he’s paralyzed from the waist down but otherwise he’s just like any other three year old.
In the future, Jacob will have to undergo risky surgeries to lift his brain off his spine and relieve the pressure it is causing.
Kirsty concluded, “There have been plenty of times I came close to losing him, but he keeps battling on and comes out fighting stronger. And in January this year it was the best day of my life when I got to bring him home. Hopefully this will be his first Christmas at home.”
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Kirsty’s perspective about her son stands in stark contrast of some parent’s opinion concerning their child’s disability. As LifeNews previously reported, a New Zealand couple sued their doctors after they missed signs of spina bifida and argued that if it would have been detected, they would have killed their daughter in an abortion.Their daughter was born in 2007, and they went to court because they believed they suffered “a personal injury because of the misdiagnosis.” In fact, in 2009 the mother of the child said she was not ashamed of saying she would have aborted her daughter if she would have known of her disability.
