Indiana couple gives birth despite doctor's urges to abort
unknown
By SUSAN DILLMAN
Tribune Indianapolis Bureau
INDIANAPOLIS -- She arrived at 8:40 a.m. Thursday. Another tiny baby in
a
big, busy world. Born to neither riches nor royalty, the arrival of
Jessica Jane Stillson nonetheless made the evening news.
What makes this 4-pound, 12-ounce infant, the daughter of Jane and Tod
Stillson, so special is what she represents. In an increasingly secular
world, little Jessica is a living symbol of profound religious faith,
extraordinary strength, sacrifice and hope. She is the baby that
doctors
told Jane not to have if she wanted even a slim shot at surviving breast
cancer just five more years.
The disease showed up early in Jane's pregnancy and doctors advised her
to
have an abortion. It would lower the level of hormones on which her
cancer
was feasting, and it would pave the way for a swift and aggressive
course
of treatment that otherwise would have killed her fetus.
But Jane and Tod refused.
"They essentially said, 'If you want your wife to survive, you need to
kill your child.' I said, 'Abortion is not an option. Now, what do you
recommend?' " Tod told The Tribune in an April story about the couple.
"Of all the decisions that we've had to make, that was the least
agonizing," Tod said, hours after Jessica's birth at the Indiana
University Medical Center.
The couple came from their home in Virginia to have the baby here. They
plan to move back to Marshall County where Tod, a physician, plans to
open
a practice in Plymouth in the fall. Using his knowledge and connections
as
a physician, Tod researched how other doctors nationwide were treating
pregnant women with cancer. Together with Jane's doctor, they settled
on
an early round of chemotherapy.
"And it was not namsy pamsy chemotherapy," said Tod.
"We've tried to walk that tight rope of having the sanctity of life and
trying to save Jane's life as well ... Believe me, Jane wants to live
and
I want her to live for a long time," he said.
There were also risks to Jessica. Her delivery was induced six weeks
early
so that doctors could attack her mother's cancer sooner. Jessica
reportedly is doing well, breathing on her own and feeding from a
bottle.
She could be released from the hospital in as little as a week. There
also
is a chance that Jessica could get leukemia because of the prenatal
chemotherapy. So, doctors harvested and preserved some of the baby's own
umbilical-cord blood cells, should she ever need them for cancer
treatment.
Now, Jane, a pharmacist, is steeling herself for a bone marrow
transplant
on June 12.
"The children (the couple have an 18-month-old son, John) are certainly
my
motivation because I want to see them grow up and I want to be the
mother
to raise them," said Jane on Thursday evening.
Jessica's birth was "just one step in the process," she said.
The transplant will include a particularly poisonous round of
chemotherapy
that will so weaken her immune system, a common cold could kill her.
Regardless, Jane's type of cancer offers her only a 20 percent chance of
survival to five years.
"How much (completing the pregnancy) has affected or diminished her
chances of living, time will tell," said Tod. They pray God will
intervene, either through science or supernatural power. But they are
prepared to accept an answer of no.
"We trust in the providence of the Lord," Tod said quietly.
But "don't mistake that as a lack of concern or a lack of pain or
suffering," he explained. The couple has their moments of fear and
sadness. "But in the midst of the pain and suffering, there can be
genuine
peace, there can be genuine hope," he said. "This story is much bigger
than us," said Tod. "The story is what God's doing in our lives.
"My genuine desire would be that people would see Jane and I and say
that
we reflect the God that we serve and that when they see us it would make
them want to know the God that we serve.
"Jane and I, we'll come and go," Tod said. "People come and go, but the
Lord, he doesn't. He's eternal. He's forever."
Bruce Forest
This disguised article was obviously written by Nicole Ann Weeks, also
known as sophist.
> Path:
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> alt.abortion,talk.abortion,alt.abortion.inequity,alt.flame.abortion,alt.su
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> Subject: Indiana couple gives birth despite doctor's urges to abort
> Date: 27 May 1997 19:32:36 GMT
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>
> By SUSAN DILLMAN
> Tribune Indianapolis Bureau
[sah-nip]
--
Bruce Forest
bfo...@mindspring.com
bfo...@snet.com
br...@sade.com
flex...@aol.com
"If it's long and dark green and its bite makes you scream that's a moray."
Ray Fischer
>a
>big, busy world. Born to neither riches nor royalty, the arrival of
>Jessica Jane Stillson nonetheless made the evening news.
>
>What makes this 4-pound, 12-ounce infant, the daughter of Jane and Tod
>Stillson, so special is what she represents. In an increasingly secular
>world, little Jessica is a living symbol of profound religious faith,
>extraordinary strength, sacrifice and hope.
Parents make sacrifices for their children every day.
> She is the baby that
>doctors
>told Jane not to have if she wanted even a slim shot at surviving breast
>cancer just five more years.
>
>The disease showed up early in Jane's pregnancy and doctors advised her
>to
>have an abortion. It would lower the level of hormones on which her
>cancer
>was feasting, and it would pave the way for a swift and aggressive
>course
>of treatment that otherwise would have killed her fetus.
>
>But Jane and Tod refused.
Good that she had that CHOICE.
--
Ray Fischer "The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious
r...@netcom.com encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without
understanding." Louis Brandeis
Paul Yost
> >INDIANAPOLIS -- She arrived at 8:40 a.m. Thursday. Another tiny baby in
> >a
> >big, busy world. Born to neither riches nor royalty, the arrival of
> >Jessica Jane Stillson nonetheless made the evening news.
> >
> >What makes this 4-pound, 12-ounce infant, the daughter of Jane and Tod
> >Stillson, so special is what she represents. In an increasingly secular
> >world, little Jessica is a living symbol of profound religious faith,
> >extraordinary strength, sacrifice and hope.
> >doctors
> >told Jane not to have if she wanted even a slim shot at surviving breast
> >cancer just five more years.
> >
> >The disease showed up early in Jane's pregnancy and doctors advised her
> >to
> >have an abortion. It would lower the level of hormones on which her
> >cancer
> >was feasting, and it would pave the way for a swift and aggressive
> >course
> >of treatment that otherwise would have killed her fetus.
My cousin discovered she had cancer early in her last pregnancy. She
decided to forego therapy so that she could have a healthy baby. Today her
baby is alive and well, but she is dead.
If I had been in her shoes, I would have made an entirely different
decision. I find it interesting so many people want to eliminate our
choices, as though the country I'm posting from was some backwards,
repressive, dictatorship, and not the great United States of America!
SEROOT
I think that we all, regardless of our position on this issue, should say a
prayer for this family.
Their courage is unbounded.
Suzanne