Brain-dead woman gives birth to twins

Kept alive for a month on respirator

A pregnant woman who was declared dead after suffering a brain aneurysm has given birth to twins after her body was kept alive for a month on a respirator.

Christine Bolden collapsed on March 1 while walking in Detroit, Mich., with her boyfriend and three-year-old son.

Five days later she was pronounced brain dead by doctors. An obituary for the 26-year-old lists her date of death as March 6. But almost a month later she has given birth to twins after being kept on life support.

Bolden, who also has an 11-year-old son, gave birth to Nicholas and Alexander — names she had chosen before her collapse — on April 5 after a 25-week pregnancy.

Her life support was turned off shortly afterwards. The premature twins weighed less than two pounds each and are being kept in isolation.

Bolden’s aunt Danyell Bolden said that after learning of her condition, the family prayed for the children to survive.

“We used to rub on her belly and talk to the babies,” she said.

“It was an impossible mix of emotions, knowing that once the babies were born that was the end of her.

“God could have taken her and the boys. But he left the boys. That’s a miracle.”

Dr. Cosmas Vandeven, who specializes in highrisk pregnancies at University of Michigan hospital, said Bolden’s case was exceptional.

“Almost every parent would give their life for their child,” Vandeven said. “But you need to get truly independent opinions: Are we sure we’re not causing harm to the mom?”

He said 70 per cent of babies born at 25 weeks survived, but the risk for long-term health problems was high.

“We certainly hope they make it, but at this time they’re too young to make a confident prognosis,” he added.

There have been instances of women on life support giving birth to children before.

In 2007 Stacy Rojas, 34, a teacher from Dallas gave birth in a coma to a healthy baby girl after a brain aneurysm.

Her life-support machine was switched off two days after the birth, having kept her alive for a month.