A brain-dead Canadian woman on life support is being kept alive long enough to deliver her unborn son in a Victoria, British Columbia, hospital, Reuters reported.
Robyn Benson, 32, was just 22 weeks pregnant when she complained of a headache and then collapsed on her bathroom floor, according to postings on a blog and fundraising site by her husband Dylan Benson. Her fetus, already named Iver Cohen Benson, has continued to grow in the womb.
"On December 28th, I lost my wife to a sudden hemorrhage of blood to her brain," Benson wrote. "Based on my decision, they are attempting to keep her body alive for up to 7 more weeks ... Incredibly, they have been successful in doing this for 5 weeks now."
According to Benson, in order to give the baby a greater chance of survival, the goal is to wait until the fetus reaches 34 weeks.
The baby is being planned to be delivered through Cesarean section by the doctors and will spend his first few weeks in hospital, Benson said.
That sets up a bittersweet deadline for the family, who will welcome a new baby and then take the mother off life support, Reuters reported.
"It is very difficult to know that our son will grow up never meeting his wonderful mother, and that we will have to say our goodbyes to Robyn within hours of seeing Iver for the first time," Benson wrote. "She was my rock. She did so much for us, and I can't believe I won't get to talk to her again."
With a similar controversial case taking place in Texas recently, this tragic story has turned out to be quite different. "Marlise Munoz, a pregnant brain-dead woman was removed from life support at her husband's request last month after a lengthy court battle. Her husband said Munoz had told him she did not want to be kept on life support. Unlike the Benson baby, which is healthier, Munoz's fetus had already suffered oxygen deprivation and appeared to have deformed lower extremities, according to court documents," Reuters reported.
In a case that sparked fierce debate over the rights of a fetus versus the right to die, Texas authorities had fought to keep Munoz on life support.
A spokeswoman for the Vancouver Island health authority confirmed that there is a patient named Robyn Benson in the intensive care unit at the Victoria General Hospital, but was not able to provide further details due to privacy issues, according to Reuters.
With donations on their fundraising site topping $76,700 early on Tuesday, the Benson family's plight has gripped people across Canada and around the world
"I just wanted to reach out and say thank you to each and every one of you that have read our story and to those who have donated and/or shared," he wrote on the site on Monday. "We are overwhelmed with the response from not only the community, but now the nation and beyond."
