Posted on 06/01/2023 1:40:00 PM PDT by Morgana
A 25-year-old woman and her husband received criticism for refusing to abort their son because he does not have arms. She said she loves her son just as he is — “perfect.”
According to The Mirror, Mariaan Strauss and her husband Hendrick, from South Africa, explained that they learned during an ultrasound at 13 weeks that their son did not have arms. The doctor advised the parents to abort him. And while the thought of raising a child with different abilities seemed daunting to the couple, they did not want to end his life.
Called “selfish” for that decision, the couple now says that 11-month-old Hendré is the “greatest gift we could have received.” He weighted just over six pounds at birth and Mariaan said that she and her husband cried “because it was such a beautiful moment.”
Still, she said, “the big, dark depression hit me.”
“Society is cruel and I thought, ‘Will our child ever be accepted? Is he going to be mocked and bullied?”
She added, “The words of my specialist kept running through my head, ‘You’re selfish if you don’t abort. You must think of the child. He will never be able to have a normal quality of life.'”
Mariaan became angry with God for allowing her son to be born without arms and began to blame herself. The fear of the unknown was overwhelming. “You pray and you ask for a healthy child, but then this happens,” she said. “But if I had to choose today, I would take him just like that, again, without arms.”
Now she calls their refusal of abortion the best decision of their lives.
“When Hendré was three months old, he taught himself to roll from place to place and it was like a cloud lifted,” she said. “I realised my child was okay, then I was okay and the depression went away.”
Still, those words from the doctor remain with her and she thinks of other mothers who do choose abortion after such a diagnosis. “I wish they could hear me when I tell them it’s okay to have a child who’s different from society’s idea of ‘normal,'” she said. “Hendré is the greatest gift we could have received.”
Hendré, who will turn one in June, also faces other medical challenges. He is missing a lower leg bone and his stomach hasn’t grown properly, but his parents are receiving plenty of support in helping him to overcome his health concerns and they hope he can be fitted for prosthetic arms one day.
Hendrick said Hendré is now moving everywhere. “If he wants to get a toy on the other side of the room, he moves or he pulls his little legs under him and pushes himself forward,” said Hendrick. He added, “Hendré sleeps in his cot next to our bed. When he wakes up, he lies there and smiles at us. And to think I wanted to throw it away because I was scared and insecure.”
” I’ve interviewed for television are emotionally detached or, likely, autistic.”
Interesting. Do you suppose most abortionist are autistic?
“You must think of the child. He will never be able to have a normal quality of life.”
This logic is so twisted. If we followed it to its logical conclusion, then we’d never amputate a limb to save a life. Just let them die. Their quality of life won’t be “normal” so they might as well be dead. Heck, you have macular degeneration? Kill ‘em. Diabetes? Into the gas chamber!
I like to thing God picked this angel’s parents for him.
Selfish? For keeping and raising a child with no arms???? WTF is wrong with that horrible doctor?
I had a coworker who has no arms. Going to lunch with him was amazing- he could use chopsticks with his toes, or hold a spoon and eat just fine, the man is as flexible as a snake. He even deer hunts- successfully- with a bow... holding the noch of the arrow in his teeth and the bow with his feet. The only thing he does go easy on is he chooses a location where he won’t have to pack out the carcass very far from where he parks his truck.
He also has a great sense of humor, I guess you have to have that.
Hendré is normal for Hendré. A more compassionate doctor would’ve simply advised them about what they were facing and kept his dark thoughts to his dark self.
I had a coworker who was born with no arms, due to a birth defect from that medication they used to give pregnant women to ease pain decades ago. He had no problem doing his job. Going to lunch with him was amazing- he could use chopsticks with his toes, or hold a spoon and eat just fine, the man is as flexible as a snake. He even deer hunts- successfully- with a bow... holding the noch of the arrow in his teeth and the bow with his feet. The only thing he does go easy on is he chooses a location where he won’t have to pack out the carcass very far from where he parks his truck.
He also has a great sense of humor, I guess you have to have that.
The Doctor sound like a Nazi.
He has a massive ego. It goes with the territory. I think they teach arrogance in med school.
The drug was thalidomide .
……
.
“ It would be awesome if Elon Musk helped the kid out with some robotic arms or something...”
I was thing the same thing. With the advances in robotics and prosthetics today by the time he is 10 years old he will probably have arms that function as well or better than normal ones. I’m talking Winter Soldier arms!
Well doc, maybe this person without arms will find a cure for a disease that you or someone in your family may suffer from.
Liberals are born without brains every day
Agree 100%. Back in 1980’s, my family GP said I was faking back pain for drugs. Two years later I had emergency surgery because my left kidney was twice the size due to backflow. Told my Urologist the story & he said he’d willing to back a lawsuit but that wouldn’t have solved anything.
When I hear of similar stories, I tell people that you’re your best doctor & if the one you’re going to can’t help you, go to another one.
That’s exactly where it leads and has before.
I dont know much but all this sounds
like a bunch of WEF implementation
its a damn shame
“I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”
- Ronald Reagan
a lot of people... no, all but one on this thread is right out with the anti abortion no matter what stance. But I align myself with the ethics POV...
It would definitely NOT be a decision I would want to make... But if they new about this within the first trimester which I'm sure they did, I would have chosen ethics...
The original story of 2-29-2000 from the AP was entitled:
Limbless college student defies Japan’s notion of disability
The above story was written later but it includes his popularity as a best selling author, “Nobody is Perfect”.
a prime time news anchor and sought after public speaker.
It is so inspiring - he joined the basketball team on his first day of middle school, stunning his parents.
“You alone decide if you are going to be happy”, Ototake said. He has done so much to change the Japanese perception of separate worlds for able bodied and disabled.
Goebbels was born with a club foot, he would have been killed give the Nazi criteria.
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