{"id":22083,"date":"2025-12-30T10:06:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T15:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=22083"},"modified":"2025-12-30T10:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T15:06:12","slug":"florida-women-turns-her-tragic-pregnancy-into-a-blessing-for-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/12\/florida-women-turns-her-tragic-pregnancy-into-a-blessing-for-others.html","title":{"rendered":"Florida Women Turns Her Tragic Pregnancy Into a Blessing For Others"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mark Dohner \/ Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In June 2025, expectant Florida mother Catherine Mornhineway received devastating news at her 14-week ultrasound appointment. Her unborn baby likely had anencephaly<\/a>, a condition that the baby\u2019s brain would not fully develop and would not survive after birth. Most people, Mornhineway and her partner Adam Ford were told, choose to terminate such pregnancies. Unsure of what to do, Mornhineway saw an Instagram post mentioning an episode of \u201cGrey\u2019s Anatomy\u201d about a mother who found herself in a similar situation. The mother had her baby and donated the baby\u2019s organs. \u201cI was just like, \u2018That\u2019s my little girl.\u2019 I\u2019m going to carry her and spend as long as I can with her,\u201d decided Mornhineway.<\/p>\n

Such donations are very rare but very needed. More than 100 children under the age of 1 are on an organ recipient waiting list. Mornhineway received care Women\u2019s Center at HCA Florida Brandon Hospital and was assigned nurse navigator Laurie Van Damme. Van Damme reached out to Lifelink, an organ procurement organization that operates in the southwest Florida region. \u201cI knew it was going to be something we were going to see through and kind of fight for. They put me in contact with someone in their organization that was willing to walk down that road with me and, more importantly, with them,\u201d said Van Damme.<\/p>\n

The couple had to inform their two young children that their baby sister would be going to Heaven. They explained the situation to their oldest daughter, who was twelve. \u201cWe just wanted her to understand completely and wholly what was gonna happen, so that she was never confused and didn\u2019t feel like we hid it from her,\u201d\u00a0said Ford.<\/p>\n

Haven Sariah Renee Ford was born Dec. 11 at 10:31 p.m. at 6 pounds. She was put on life support to preserve her organs for procurement. She lived for four days that way, with family coming to meet her. \u201cEverybody that held her cried, you know, but was also happy they got to meet her,\u201d said Ford. On her last day on earth, the family took Haven outside to feel the sun. She passed away while the family slept, making her the youngest donor Lifelink recovery surgeon Jacentha Buggs ever operated on.<\/p>\n

Despite the pain, her family lives with the hope that Haven\u2019s short life will help another family in need. \u201cIt\u2019s a life, and it\u2019s just such a beautiful experience even knowing what we had to do and what was going to happen,\u201d Ford said. \u201cIt\u2019s just so worth it.\u201d It\u2019s a road that is almost unimaginable for any parent. Yet their hope remains strong. \u201cOur little one will be someone else\u2019s miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In June 2025, expectant Florida mother Catherine Mornhineway received devastating news at her 14-week ultrasound appointment. Her unborn baby likely had anencephaly, a condition that the baby\u2019s brain would not fully develop and would not survive after birth. Most people, Mornhineway and her partner Adam Ford were told, choose to terminate such pregnancies. Unsure of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":22086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-messages"],"yoast_head":"\nFlorida Women Turns Her Tragic Pregnancy Into a Blessing For Others<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Florida family shares hope and faith after welcoming a baby with a fatal diagnosis whose life saved others through organ donation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/12\/florida-women-turns-her-tragic-pregnancy-into-a-blessing-for-others.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida Women Turns Her Tragic Pregnancy Into a Blessing For Others\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Florida family shares hope and faith after welcoming a baby with a fatal diagnosis whose life saved others through organ donation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/12\/florida-women-turns-her-tragic-pregnancy-into-a-blessing-for-others.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiration Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-30T15:06:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2025\/12\/Pregnant_Woman-credit-mark-dohner-instagram.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Florida Women Turns Her Tragic Pregnancy Into a Blessing For Others","description":"A Florida family shares hope and faith after welcoming a baby with a fatal diagnosis whose life saved others through organ donation.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/12\/florida-women-turns-her-tragic-pregnancy-into-a-blessing-for-others.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Florida Women Turns Her Tragic Pregnancy Into a Blessing For Others","og_description":"A Florida family shares hope and faith after welcoming a baby with a fatal diagnosis whose life saved others 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