Protecting Life: Michigan Mother Dies After Refusing Chemotherapy So That Her Daughter Could Live

This week, many people said goodbye to a woman who they did not know personally, but someone who became an inspiration for many of us.  Carrie DeKlyen was given a horrific choice recently: take chemotherapy to prolong her life or accept her own death to allow her unborn daughter to live.  She chose the life . . . of her daughter.  She died two days after giving birth.  With so many people who seem to live on hate and anger these days, there remain those who offer the ultimate proof of the grace and sacrifice that truly defines humanity.  Carrie was one of those rare individuals.

The baby’s name will be Life Lynn DeKlyen.

Carrie gave birth at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor.  Her final words two days later to the family gathered around her was “I’ll see you in Heaven.”

Doctors told Carrie that she could used chemotherapy to treat her brain cancer but she would have to terminate her baby.  Carrie had five other kids aged from 2 to 18 but she refused to terminate her daughter, who was born 24 weeks in the pregnancy.