{"id":248829,"date":"2021-07-08T18:41:59","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T23:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=248829"},"modified":"2021-07-08T16:43:06","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T21:43:06","slug":"baby-athena-one-day-womb-parents-warrior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/baby-athena-one-day-womb-parents-warrior\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Athena lived for one day outside the womb, and her parents say she was ‘a warrior’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As Athena Edith Wyatt\u2019s story proves, the length of people\u2019s lives is irrelevant to their status as inherently precious human beings. Whether someone is destined to live for many years or mere hours, everyone deserves the dignity of living the life they were intended to have before passing away naturally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to <\/span>CheshireLive<\/span><\/a>, while baby Athena was not long for this world, the first and last moments she had with her parents, Dawn and Steven Wyatt, were full of unimaginable joy and love.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The parents from Macclesfield, England, said in an interview that they first learned about an abnormality in Athena\u2019s development during a 12-week ultrasound scan. The medical staff then referred the parents to a fetal medicine unit, where a test revealed that Athena would likely be born with either Patau’s, Edwards, Down syndrome.<\/span><\/p>\n

A later diagnosis revealed the Wyatts\u2019 baby indeed had Edwards syndrome, also known as <\/span>Trisomy 18<\/span><\/a>. Babies with this condition have three copies of chromosome 18 instead of two, which can lead to slow intrauterine growth and low birth weight. Affected individuals may also face severe life-threatening medical conditions, and many babies with Trisomy 18 die before birth or within the first few months post-delivery.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Athena\u2019s case, she also had <\/span>esophageal atresia<\/span><\/a>, a circumstance that arises in just 5% of trisomy 18 cases where there is no link between the child\u2019s throat and stomach. As more fatal conditions arose further into Dawn\u2019s pregnancy, the doctors informed her that Athena would have to be delivered via Caesarean section at 35 weeks gestation.<\/span><\/p>\n