Stacie Crimm, a newly pregnant woman, made the ultimate sacrifice after learning that only chemotherapy could rescue her from terminal throat cancer.
Doctors warned the 41-year-old that she would never be able to have a child, so she refused the therapy so that her unborn little girl might survive.
Stacie was able to survive for five months until being forced to birth Dottie Mae via Caesarean section, weighing only 2lbs 1oz – and even got to hug her on one occasion prior to capitulating to the infection three days after the fact.
Stacie’s brother Ray Phillips expressed that this child was all that she had in this world
He was the one Stacie contacted in March when she learned she was pregnant after years of believing she was infertile.
The mother-to-be had told him in a mixture of giggling and tears, ‘You’re not going to believe this.’
But, while she bought everything her kid would need in the next days and weeks, a major anxiety started to chew at Stacie. She was experiencing terrible headaches and double vision, as well as trembling throughout her entire body. She began to express her developing concerns to Ray. She texted that she is scared about this baby. Another message said she truly prays she lives long enough to have this baby. If something happens to her, he must take this child.
Stacie was no longer with the baby’s father and, if she lived, would have raised her daughter as a single parent.
Stacie visited many physicians with the help of her family, and a CT scan in July discovered that she had head and neck cancer.
She was forced to make a decision that no would-be mother should have to make: pick either her life and that of her child’s. It was a simple choice.
Ray stated that his sister refused potentially life-saving treatment in the hope of one day holding a healthy baby in her arms.
Stacie fainted at her house in Ryan, Oklahoma, on August 16, and was taken to OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City.
Doctors stated the aggressive tumor had started folding around the brain stem.
The baby’s heart rate dropped two days later, and Stacie’s heart stopped. Code Blue was activated. Doctors and nurses raced to her rescue, concluding that a C-section was the baby’s only option.
Dottie Mae was born weighing less than a third of the usual baby. She was quickly sent to neonatal critical care, while her mom was transferred to another building for intensive care.
Ray explained that his sister died right there. She was gasping. The human body struggles against death.
After a few days, Stacie was able to fight herself off the ventilator and sedation. Ray’s wife Jennifer recalled even at that moment, there was still a lot of optimism.
However, the malignancy had ruined the muscle behind one of her eyes.
It had paralyzed her throat, making her difficult to understand when she did speak. Her brain was riddled with tumors. She frequently passed out and was unable to sign Dottie Mae’s birth certificate.
Stacie was too frail to be carried to her baby, and her baby was too frail to be carried to her.
Ray explained they show her images and she’d cry and want to cuddle her kid. It was a real ordeal. He was helpless and wanted to assist her, to do everything he could for her. But they said it was impossible that she might see the youngster.
Stacie stopped breathing on September 8 and had to be revived. The family was alerted by hospital professionals that she was on the verge of death.
But she hadn’t yet hugged, kissed, or gazed into the baby’s blue eyes, whose life she had chosen over her own.
Nurse Agi Beo, a mother herself, couldn’t handle the thought of Stacie’s mental anguish and decided to intervene.
She collaborated with nurse Jetsy Jacob and discussed with Neoflight, the medical center’s newborn transport team, the possibility of employing a capsule-like ICU to securely transfer Dottie Mae to her mom.
Ra y explained that he knew it was all going on in the background, and he didn’t say anything to her until he knew it was going to occur because he didn’t want to raise her hopes.
He inquired of his sister what she thought about meeting her little child that day. Stacie’s eyes widened as she began looking around for her.
Dottie Mae was quickly placed on her mother’s chest by the nurses. For several minutes, the two peered into one other’s eyes.
Ray remarked nothing was spoken, it was quite silent. He told his sister she has done a lovely thing. That’s what I termed it: the ideal moment.
Stacie passed away three days later. Her funeral was held on September 14.
‘Dottie Mae was the light of her life and her greatest accomplishment,’ according to her obituary on the Dudley Funeral Homes website. She opted to give birth to this child rather than seek therapy for herself.’
Dottie Mae currently lives in Oklahoma City with Ray, his wife Jennifer, and their four children.
‘I believe she is a miracle.’ ‘I just want to do the right thing for her and do what Stacie asks,’ Jennifer explained.
