Karisa Bugal made a very selfless decision. She chose to give up her own life so that her unborn baby could live. According to Life & Style Magazine , Bugal suffered from a rare condition called amniotic fluid embolism , and she died from it.
“The amniotic fluids surrounding the baby or part of the baby’s skin or hair gets into the mother’s bloodstream and that causes catastrophic shutdown of all the organs. We don’t know how to prevent it. We don’t know how to keep it from happening at all,” explained Dr. Kelly Gerow.
When the 34-year-old went in to labor on November 3, she was forced to make an unthinkable decision. Because her son’s heart rate started to slow down, Bugal’s doctor asked if she wanted to have a C-section to save the baby, or if she wanted to delay the delivery and save herself. Bugal chose to save her son.
Karisa Bugal gave birth to Declan Bugal on November 4, but she passed away moments later. Her very last words were a question to the doctor, asking how big her son was. Now, Karisa’s husband, Wes, is left without his wife, to raise a beautiful, healthy baby boy. While he is happy to have a son, he is devastated about losing his wife, and he often worries about what to tell his son when the inevitable “Where’s mommy?” questions arise.
“How do I explain to [Declan] that his mom is gone giving birth to him? I think about that all the time. How do I explain when he asks, ‘Where’s mommy?’ Hold on to what you have now because you never know when it’s going to be taken away from you,” said Wes.
The Bugal family has a GoFundMe page set up to help Wes, who has baby Declan and is also caring for the couple’s daughter, Mallory. So far people have donated more than double the original goal. The complication that Karisa suffered is only seen in 1 of 80,000 births according to the information provided on the site.
In December of 2013, a woman died after giving birth but lived to tell the story. As previously reported by the Inquisitr , Stephanie Arnold spent 37 seconds without any vital signs after having a C-section. Her story had a happy ending, however, as she was revived, and has been fortunate enough to treasure life with her family in a very special way.
“I take deeper breaths. I savor every single moment with my family,” Arnold said.
[Photo courtesy of GoFundMe]
