Posted on 12/13/2005 7:49:21 AM PST by Rutles4Ever
A mother who found out she had cancer after becoming pregnant sacrificed her life for her unborn baby by refusing an abortion and chemotherapy, a British newspaper reported.
Devout Catholic Bernadette Mimura, known as Milai, shunned the potentially life-saving treatment because doctors told her it would kill the child, the Northern Echo regional daily reported Friday.
The 37-year-old, a native of the Philippines who lived near Stockton-on-Tees in northeast England with her British partner, Adam Taylor, survived long enough to see the birth of their son, Nathan.
But soon after seeing him baptized, she was transferred to a hospice and died about a week later.
"Being a Catholic, for her abortion was out of the question," Mr. Taylor told the newspaper. "It was a tough decision, but the decision was we could not give up on Nathan."
The boy, now 4 months old, was premature but was born fit and healthy.
Father Alan Sheridan, who performed the baptism, told Britain's domestic Press Association news agency: "Bernadette said the most important thing was the birth of her baby and she would not do anything to harm him.
"Having an abortion was never a consideration. I know she talked it over with Adam and because she was a Catholic, there was no way she would have done it.
"She had to judge which life was more important and she just prayed there would be a cure for cancer." Father Sheridan is spearheading an appeal to raise $6,490 to repatriate Mrs. Mimura's body to the Philippines for burial. Money left over will help her other three children from a first marriage.
The priest said he hoped the Manila government would help with a grant to fly the three youngsters from Britain for the ceremony.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Good Mommy Ping... *sniff* I think I will call mine today...
Would a lib-pro-choice-NOW type woman have made the same choice? I think not...............
That's a powerful story and a courageous woman.
Now that was a very generous thing to do for her child ... but if she was such a "devout Catholic," why was she living with a "partner"?
I'm surprised authorities didn't force her to have an abortion. Good she isn't in China. Not that "pro choice" forces wouldn't like to see compulsory abortion in other nations too.
Yeh, I'm too darn old fashioned...I noticed this...wadashame our deeds almost always affect the innocent.
Excellent post!
Another wonderful woman made a similar choice a decade or so ago.
She's been nominated for sainthood, IIRC.
And divorced.
Another abortion. Another notch in her belt.
Nominated just for doing the right thing? That's a pretty low standard for nomination.
She made a very unselfish choice. Why nitpick?
I was wondering the same things. She did good though; I'd say she left this world on a good note.
Amazing.
Z - in case you hadn't seen this yet.
When the right thing requires giving up your life for another, I'ld have to say - yes.
"Divorced" doesn't particularly matter to the Church, because it doesn't recognize civil divorce as ending a marriage. However, living in an unmarried or adulterous relationship and having children out of wedlock is definitely a moral problem.
THIS DOES NOT make her decision to put her child's survival ahead of her own any less heroic or praiseworthy. It simply makes the description "devout Catholic" meaningless. People like this lady, who are anti-abortion no matter what the cost to themselves, can come from any religious background or none at all.
"I do not know the answer to this question, is it the policy/requirement to be pro-life for a mom in this condition to give up her life per these circumstances?"
Hopefully the child grows up to be the one who cures cancer...BTW, been a long time Gawain...:-)
Well we got all the way to post #5 before someone had to slam this woman for not being married.
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