Baby whose mother chose giving birth over chemo has died
DETROIT — A tiny preemie whose gravely ill mother had hoped to save her by shunning chemotherapy during pregnancy has died, a relative said Thursday.
Sonya Nelson said her niece, Life Lynn DeKlyen, died Wednesday evening at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. Life’s mother, Carrie DeKlyen, died Sept. 9, three days after giving birth to her sixth child.
Relatives said Life had been doing better than expected after being born prematurely at 1 pound, 4 ounces (567 grams). Nelson told The Associated Press the baby had good and bad days at the hospital, but “took a turn for the worse” this week.
“We don’t have any answers,” Nelson said, adding “the cards were kind of stacked against her” after being born at 24 weeks and five days into the pregnancy — about “the earliest you can survive.”