{"id":159268,"date":"2017-01-07T16:27:57","date_gmt":"2017-01-07T21:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=159268"},"modified":"2017-01-04T12:45:54","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T17:45:54","slug":"annie-born-with-anencephaly-becomes-first-infant-organ-donor-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/annie-born-with-anencephaly-becomes-first-infant-organ-donor-oklahoma\/","title":{"rendered":"Annie, born with anencephaly, becomes first infant organ donor in Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Diagnosed at her 19-week ultrasound with anencephaly, a condition in which the top of the preborn child’s head is missing, Annie Ahern’s parents carried their baby girl to term, and because of that, she became the first infant organ donor in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

Her parents, Robert and Abbey, were heartbroken to learn that their third child was not going to survive after her birth.<\/p>\n

“The worlds ‘incompatible with life’ just sucked the air right out of my lungs,” explained Abbey Ahern to Good Housekeeping<\/a>. “I knew what he was saying, but I couldn’t really apply it to us or to our baby.”<\/p>\n

Already parents to two little girls whom Abbey Ahern says were difficult to name, the couple had no trouble naming Annie immediately after her diagnosis. Annie means “grace” and her parents say they knew that their baby girl’s life had value.<\/p>\n

“We knew she had a purpose – even though she was not made for this world,” said Abbey Ahern.<\/p>\n

The couple learned from their doctors that about 95 percent of women enduring such a diagnosis choose to abort. However, they decided to carry Annie to term.<\/p>\n

\u00a0