Tennessee Woman Chooses Child’s Life over Her Own

LifeSiteNews ^ | 3/2/07 | Hilary White

[wagglebee]

NASHVILLE, March 2, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Thursday, February 15, at the age of 31, Jennifer Ann Carlisle gave up her life to cancer after refusing an abortion that doctors told her might have extended her life.

Jennifer had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2005. At two months gestation, long before any chance of saving the child’s life outside the womb, Jennifer was told that she would die from the soccer ball-sized tumour if she did not abort the baby.

“Even though the doctors did say it would extend her life to have the abortion, she and her husband made the decision to let God choose," said Carol Day, Jennifer's mother.

“They decided God would make that decision, not her,” Jennifer’s aunt, Jackie Murdock, told the Niles Daily Star. “She wouldn't decide somebody else's life.”

Murdock recalled her niece saying, “Whether she lives or dies she will not abort her baby.”

Gabriel Carlisle was born in January 2006 and Jennifer underwent aggressive chemotherapy but after a brief summer remission, her condition worsened. She attended church services Sunday February 11, and died the following week.

“I told her that I loved her," Joshua said, recalling when his wife died in his arms surrounded by family. "And I told her that she needed to go on, that God was calling her home.” They had been married ten years.

“I held her and she took her last breath. There was a peace at that last minute that's just indescribable,” Joshua told Nashville’s TV News Channel 5.

The Carlisles’ church and community are rallying to assist the family. A benefit auction and concert to help pay for medical expenses were held at Christ Community Church in Franklin Tennessee.

Joshua told local news media, “I’m hoping that we don't get any more doctor bills but they're still coming in.” 

“I guess she knew the secret of life and it is not in receiving but giving,” Joshua said.

[Gay State Conservative]

They did not get their sacrament thats what they cannot handle.

I don't know if you even have to bring it down to religious faith.My understanding is that there are at least some atheists and agnostics who are pro life and,thus,could probably appreciate the "spiritual" or ethical significance of this mother's act.

(For the record,I am neither an atheist nor an agnostic)

[Mr. Silverback]

So, who won?

Satan.

[Mr. Silverback]

My daughter's middle name is that of the aunt of a colleague of my wife's. She also was diagnosed with cancer while pregnant and refused chemo, knowing her death was virtually certain because of the delay. When one doctor lectured her about her responsibility to the children who had already been born, she told him that she'd push one of her kids out of the way of a bus even if it meant she would get hit by it and die, and she couldn't understand why he was treating this situation differently.

As soon as we heard that story, we just had to honor her somehow. Tough enough!

[RebelBanker]

My wife and her brother are stronger than I am. We have all endured heartbreaks and keep going somehow. Faith, family and friends (notably including those here at FR) helped me through my tough time. That is one reason I never hesitate to add my prayers for anyone in need - FReepers' prayers helped me so much that the very least I can do is pass them long.

BTW, the positive next chapter for my B-I-L, he married a widow with three children. Modern-day Brady Bunch!

[wagglebee]

I'm glad he was able to find happiness with someone who had endured similar heartache.

[Old Professer]

That's mostly because they don't often get told; I would imagine that there are many people who make decisions along these lines but never receive notice or publicity because the choices are seldom this clear-cut.

I live here in Nashville and this is the first I've heard of this.

I only hope the politicians keep their filthy hands off this until the weekend so this mother can be buried with the same dignity with which she lived and died.

[rzeznikj at stout]

Amen!

May God bless her family and keep them close to Him...

[right way right]

Good point even "the Pagans" referred to by Jesus are capable of knowing right from wrong.
That is because they do not know the "Law" it is credited to them as rightous by God.

That said do not mistake this righteousness with justification efficient for salvation. He used this fact to strenghten the argument for those who did know the"Law" that they were more strongly condemning themselves to Gods wrath by their rebellion.

This is why Christians can be so unbending on abortion ,We are slaves to the sinful nature revealed by the Law but we are more so slaves to God in our Spirit.Dead to Sin alive in the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ.

In time of weakness we of course still sin.
Sanctification is a life long struggle. But the Holy Spirit was too strong in this woman to rebel against and she could not deny God glory in the creation of this life.

Okay, too long here, point is your right.

Come to think of it I was Pro-life before I became a Christian.

[right way right]

The Mother and baby are Angels now.

Have Peace God is Glorified.

[adopt4Him]

Amen, my brother. Politicians can so easily take the holy and sacred, and degrade it right into self-serving, sanctimonious crap. It sickens me too. Let's just pray no one famous jumps on the bandwagon. And you're right. The stories being told on this thread show that there are many saints out there among the commonfolk whose names are never mentioned, and who receive no honor here on earth.

Of course, their crowns are in heaven, where (frankly), they belong.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Someone should buy those kids something decent to wear. Unfortunately I am as stubborn as their mom, and would pray that the Lord would provide the answer...

[Old Professer]

It's all so impersonal now, on sterile, plastic clad beds, masked strangers milling about like old time stagecoach bandits each waiting to snatch your precious baggage as though to claim it for their own; no children allowed, only giddy in-laws whose smug smiles will soon turn to scowls when MIL#1 doesn't get the latest E-Pic before MIL#2.

But, when push comes to shove, the real you or me or whoever comes out.

This dear woman's family will have a community of friends, that's the way most people still are; they just don't want to admit it.

[RebelBanker]

The Mother and baby are Angels now.

I know. They have all too much company now. My father-in-law passed away in 2001 and my mother-in-law in 2005, both from cancer, and then I lost my three-year-old son to epilepsy in 2006.

[Old Professer]

Being pro-life is logical if you believe in the efficacy of evolution.

[wagglebee]

It looks to me as if they're dressed up for Halloween.

[Old Professer]

My grandmother was a sturdy reed, upright and small; 70 years old the year I was born.

I saw her cry and I saw her smile, I watched her laugh and walked with her many a mile; but I never saw her sag and sob, shoulders bent so.

Until that day with her grey, proud head held low; the day I held her hand as we watched her oldest son laid to rest along with four of the rest; the fifth of her eleven natural born children.

Three, too short years later, she took her place back at the head of the table.

I like to think of them all sharing one last glass, and raise my own in toast, knowing I can only hope to have her courage.

[cgk]

Pro-Life/Pro-Baby ping!

Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Pro-Life/Pro-Baby ping list...

[cgk]

Incredibly moving, and terribly humbling. Hits closer to home than I would have liked to admit.

[cgk]

Typical. Their impression is faulty and shrill: that we would rather the mother die than the baby. That we on the right demand some sort of sacrifice for unborn babies, so long as it isn't the baby. (and that includes sacrificing women's lives to a life of domicile servitude.) Even those who appear "rational" do it with their own agenda: to chant the "choice" mantra: it was her CHOICE so even if they don't agree, they must respect it as they would if she had chosen abortion.

[4yearlurker]

She's wearing the wings of angels in heaven she is....