Expectant mother finds joy, gratitude despite tragedy

Expectant mother finds joy, gratitude despite tragedy
Photo courtesy of StoryCorps
Expectant mother finds joy, gratitude despite tragedy
Photo courtesy of StoryCorps

Expectant mother finds joy, gratitude despite tragedy

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Abigail Van Beek’s deepest desire has always been to be a mom.

She and her husband were thrilled to learn they were having twins. But then they got the worst news a parent can hear.

Abigail came to the Chicago StoryCorps booth with her father, Dr. David Bosscher, to talk about how their close-knit family survived a time of great loss.

ABIGAIL: We also learned there were some heart …
DAVID: Anomalies.
ABIGAIL: Yeah, that were going to mean our girls probably wouldn’t live.

Abigail said those were hard weeks and months for her, her husband and their families.

ABIGAIL: We decided that we were going to continue to carry the girls and to continue to be pregnant with the girls and try to celebrate them in the ways that we could while they were still alive and inside of me.

To learn how Abigail and her family handled the devastating situation with gratitude and even joy at times, listen to the audio above.