Susan Torres baby born tonight...Brain Dead Mother

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Gave birth to baby, Susan Anne Catherine Torres, weighs one pound 13 ounces and is 13 1/2 inches long.

Story Here

No word on if Susans Life support has been with drawn. 😦
 
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Marie:
No word on if Susans Life support has been with drawn. 😦
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This is not a Schiavo type case. The poor woman is brain dead, with her heart and lungs kept going only by machine. That is the bittersweat part of it – the baby will be born and she will die.
 
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amcalabrese:
This is not a Schiavo type case. The poor woman is brain dead, with her heart and lungs kept going only by machine. That is the bittersweat part of it – the baby will be born and she will die.
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True…The baby was born, and Susan needs prayers for her soul and her family needs prayers to coup. I wasn’t intending the thread to even resemble Schiavo. Total different can of worms. :rolleyes:
 
This is such a sad story, but at least the baby survived. I will pray the little one thrives while her family mourns the loss of her mother.
 
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Marie:
True…The baby was born, and Susan needs prayers for her soul and her family needs prayers to coup. I wasn’t intending the thread to even resemble Schiavo. Total different can of worms. :rolleyes:
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I know. It is a sad case. But the baby will hopefully thrive.

It is just that I have discussed the case with others and it shocks me how many complain that they should have just let Mrs. Torres die instead of “turning her into an incubator.”
 
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amcalabrese:
I know. It is a sad case. But the baby will hopefully thrive.

It is just that I have discussed the case with others and it shocks me how many complain that they should have just let Mrs. Torres die instead of “turning her into an incubator.”
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That is shocking…glad I missed that thread…egads! :eek:
 
My prayers are for the husband who knows that his wife’s life is over, but he is also celebrating the birth of his tiny little angel. God bless the whole family, the angel, the mother and the father…and poor brother Peter who’s too young to understand the depth of emotion behind all of the tears around him.
 
Yesterday, August 2, was the feastday of** Our Lady of the Angels. **:angel1:
 
Happy Birthday Susan Anne Catherine Torres

AUG 03, 2005 The Torres and Rollin families are proud to announce that Mrs. Susan Torres gave birth at 8:18 am on Tuesday, August 2, 2005 to Susan Anne Catherine Torres. The baby weighs 1 pound 13 ounces and measures 13 ½ inches long.

There were no complications during delivery. The baby is doing well and is being monitored in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Virginia Hospital Center.

The Torres family will hold a press conference tomorrow, August 3, 2005, at 1:00 p.m. eastern time at Virginia Hospital Center. Further details will be available at that time.

Thank you all for your care and support which has helped both families reach this wonderful day. susantorresfund.org/newsmanager/news_article.cgi?news_id=44
 
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amcalabrese:
It is just that I have discussed the case with others and it shocks me how many complain that they should have just let Mrs. Torres die instead of “turning her into an incubator.”
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I doubt the person she was “incubating” will agree (when she is old enough to agree or disagree). I wonder if this will be big news- somehow, I doubt it.
 
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geezerbob:
In case any of you missed it, the mother died today.
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Yes, I know. So sad, but I know God is in control. May he receive Susan into His home with open arms, and watch over her little ones and family left behind. 😦
 
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Marie:
No word on if Susans Life support has been with drawn. 😦
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The article I read reported that after she was administered Last Rites by a Catholic priest, her life support was turned off.
 
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cove:
The article I read reported that after she was administered Last Rites by a Catholic priest, her life support was turned off.
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Despite how the press portrayed it during the Schiavo case, Catholic teaching is NOT that life support has to stay on forever. In the case of Mrs. Schiavo, the issue was that all she needed was a feeding tube, and that there were questions of her exact state.

In this case, Mrs. Torres has no brain or organ function. Had she not been pregnant, the life support would have been withdrawn.

When my mother passed away recently, I had to make the decision. She had no brain function, she was unable to breathe on her own, and her heart and blood pressure were sustained only by massive medications that were causing her to get gangrenous. At that point, I called in the priest the last time and had to make the decision. I kept her on the respirator (both the priest and I were very insistent about that) and continued to give her fluids and nutrition intravenously. I stopped the blood pressure medication and simply waited for the end.
 
Family’s Statement News Conference - Weds. Aug 3

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 3 /U.S. Newswire/ – The following is a statement from the Torres and Rollin families, read by Justin Torres at the news conference held today:

As you know, at 8:18 a.m. on Tuesday, Susan Anne Catherine Torres was delivered by caesarean section at Virginia Hospital Center. This morning, she continues to do well in the NICU unit here at the hospital.

Earlier this morning, after a brief goodbye with her husband, parents, and other family members, and after receiving the last sacraments of the Catholic Church, Susan Michelle Rollin Torres passed away after the machines, which sustained her life for the past 12 weeks, were turned off at my brother’s request. She was 26 years old.

This is obviously a bittersweet time for our family. We are overjoyed at the birth of Baby Susan and deeply grieved at the loss of her mother. From the beginning, we knew that two things would get us through to the baby’s birth: God’s providence and Susan’s determination. Susan was always the toughest person in that ICU room. Her passing is a testament to the truth that human life is a gift from God and that children are always to be fought for, even if life requires-as it did of Susan-the last full measure of devotion.

We have many people to thank, starting with the doctors, staff, and most especially the nurses at Virginia Hospital Center. You have been innovative, flexible, and determined on our behalf, and walked every step of this journey with us. We are deeply grateful.
We also must thank the many friends and family members who gave us their time, energy, and shoulders to lean on over the past 12 weeks. Our debt to you is lifelong.

Finally, on behalf of my brother I wish to thank the many thousands of people who have taken this story to heart, donated to the Susan M. Torres Fund, and most especially, sent us their prayers and best wishes. This family has literally been lifted up in prayer, and I can never express adequately our gratitude for the prayers and support we have received from people all over the globe. We could not have made it through this ordeal without you, and on behalf of my brother, my family, and the Rollin family, I wish to thank you and ask your continued prayers for the newest member of our family
 
Smiles over kicking New Baby

When asked what he would tell his niece about her mother, Jason smiled and said, “One doesn’t want to invest the poor kid with too many expectations, but I would tell her that her mother was one of the toughest human beings I ever met.”

The baby girl was named after her mother, Justin said. He joked about how the infant’s father avoided discussing the newborn’s name with the journalists who have followed the family’s saga for months. “[He] kept that a secret from everyone until after the baby was born. Mostly to fake all of you guys out,” Justin told reporters.

One doctor who helped care for baby Susan after her birth couldn’t hide her smile while talking about the 1-day-old girl.

“She doesn’t like her feet being touched,” Dr. Donna Tilden-Archer said. “She almost knocked the IV out of my hand when I was trying to put it near her foot.”

Baby Susan packs quite a kick for her size. She’s only 1 lb., 13 oz. and 13 ½ inches long — about the length of a “size 12 shoe,” as Tilden-Archer put it. But the first thing Jason noticed about his daughter was, “Boy, she’s got long feet.”

“She is a miracle to us,” Justin said about his newborn niece. “Definitely.”

Tilden-Archer said she had seen Jason checking on his baby repeatedly through the night. The family said they thought he was finally getting some sleep today.

“What’s next?” Justin Torres, responded to reporters’ questions, “We literally have had such a busy couple of days and couple of weeks that I don’t think anybody’s given any thought to what’s next,” he said. “I know that Jason plans to be here pretty regularly and through the time that we get to take this baby home.”

He also talked about what he wants to tell his niece when she’s older.

"I would also tell [her] one day, maybe a long time from now, that ‘Gosh, you do not know, you cannot tell how many people have fought for you … So go out and do good things.’ "
 
Delivery of brain-dead woman’s baby ‘bittersweet’ for her family

By Angela E. Pometto
Catholic News Service

ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) – Within 24 hours, the Torres family celebrated the birth and baptism of Susan Anne Catherine Torres and mourned the passing of the child’s mother, Susan Michelle Rollin Torres, who was brain-dead and had been on life support until her baby could be delivered.

“This is obviously a bittersweet time for our family,” said Justin Torres, Susan Torres’ brother-in-law. “We are overjoyed at the birth of baby Susan and deeply grieved at the loss of her mother.”

Susan Anne Catherine was born at 8:18 a.m. Aug. 2 at the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington.

Her mother was rushed to the hospital after she lost consciousness May 7. Susan Torres, 26, had suffered a stroke caused by melanoma that spread to her brain. She was put on life support. Because she was pregnant, her husband, Jason, decided to keep her alive so her baby could be delivered.

After 27 weeks of gestation, the baby was born weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces and measuring 13 and a half inches. The couple also has a 2-year-old son, Peter.

The baby remained under the care and observation of staff in the hospital center’s neonatal intensive care unit.

“Like so many, I have prayed for the well-being of the baby, for Susan and for the Torres family,” Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde said in a statement.

“We rejoice at news of the birth of Susan Anne Catherine Torres. I am deeply moved by the extraordinary witness to the sacredness of life from its very beginning which the Torres family has given to our society,” he said. “We now mourn the loss of Susan, and bring her and her entire family before the Lord in prayer.”

The Torres family said they received much support from priests at St. Rita Parish in Alexandria, where Jason Torres and his family are members, and from the Catholic community in general.

As the cancer spread rapidly through Susan Torres’ body, the team of physicians “determined that the risk of continuing her pregnancy had become greater than the risk of delivering the baby at the gestational age of 27 weeks,” said Dr. Archie McPherson, vice president and chief medical officer at the hospital. The goal had been to deliver the baby after 24 weeks but preferably at 32 weeks.

It appeared the placenta was not affected by the melanoma, said Dr. Rodney McLaren, medical director for maternal fetal medicine, though doctors planned to run more tests on it.

According to Dr. Donna Tilden-Archer, medical director of neonatology, the moment the baby was born she was vigorous and in good condition, even though she is no bigger than a size 12 shoe.

“We are ecstatic that she is here, and she seems to be healthy,” she said.

At her stage of development, the baby’s respiratory system was the most vulnerable. She was breathing on her own with supplemental oxygen. Cardiologists who examined the child said her heart is stable, Tilden-Archer said.

The baby will remain in the neonatal unit for at least three months until the original due date, Oct. 31. Doctors agree that there is a strong chance that the baby will survive even though there are still challenges ahead, said Tilden-Archer.

The day after the birth the mother’s life-support machines were disconnected.

“After a brief goodbye with her husband, parents and other family members, and after receiving the last sacraments of the Catholic Church, Susan Michelle Rollin Torres passed away,” said Justin Torres.

When Susan Torres was admitted to the hospital in early May, melanoma, a deadly cancer, had aggressively spread through much of her body, said Dr. Christopher McManus, her attending physician. While the cancer begins in the skin, in her case it grew and affected her liver, adrenal glands and finally her brain.

CONTINUED ON NEXT POST…
 
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