A brave Co Derry mother has told how she refused to have her unborn baby daughter aborted after she was diagnosed with a deadly condition in the womb.
Limavady woman Erin O’Hara revealed this week how her daughter Freya Anne O'Hara-McCormick lived for two minutes after she was born eight weeks premature on December 7.
Her baby had been diagnosed with anencephaly – a life limiting condition where the brain and bones of the skull do not form properly.
The 23-year-old revealed how she struggled with the news that her unborn baby was gravely ill.
“My whole world came to a standstill and I had to breathe my way out of a panic attack,” she told the County Derry Post.
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“'Aren’t there any survival rates at all?' I asked the sonographer, to which she replied, shaking her head, ‘I am so sorry’."
She said abortion was never an option for her or her partner Jamie McCormick.
“We were told that other women in our circumstances have gone on to terminate the pregnancy and that if we chose to terminate, we would have to travel to England to do the same,” she said.
“It (an abortion) was never an option for us, not even for a second.”
“We had spent the whole pregnancy getting ready to meet this little human being, half of me and half of Jamie, and because of that we owed it to ourselves and to her to meet her and get that much-needed closure.”
Due to little Freya’s condition her mother faced complications during her pregnancy and was in pain in the later stages.
“The pain was awful, but I would do it all again in a heartbeat, if it meant I would get to see Freya again.”
The grieving mother revealed how she shared the precious minutes of her daughter’s life.
“She was absolutely perfect in every way, just 2lb 4oz of pure joy,” she said.
“We would have given anything to have her longer, but I am glad that she didn't suffer and she passed away peacefully.
“In her last moments, with one eye open, she stared right up into mine, holding her daddy’s finger, and listening to the sound she knew best, my heartbeat.
“I will hold that memory of her with me forever.”
