If you’re a mother, I’m sure that in the moment you first met your newborn child, you vowed to do anything to keep him or her safe.
But, as you’re well aware, that protective instinct kicks in long before your baby comes into the world. For one pregnant woman, this meant making an incredibly difficult choice for the sake of her unborn child.
In the early weeks of her pregnancy, 36-year-old Elena Furlan from Tricesmo, in Italy’s Udine Province, found out from doctors that she had a cancerous tumor affecting her uterus. She was told that she needed to undergo chemotherapy, which would ultimately kill her baby, but she told them she wouldn’t do it.
Though it was unlikely that her baby girl would survive, Furlan gave birth to Maria Vittoria in November 2015.
Unfortunately, though she was able to spend precious time with her daughter in the first year of her life, the cancer began spreading throughout Furlan’s body.
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She knew she wasn’t going to make it to Maria’s first birthday, so she wrote a letter and left it with her partner to give to her daughter when the time was right.
Translated from Italian, it reads: “You chose me against all medical theory and against all odds … your faith made me believe that I was a special person. I love you my baby.”
“You and I, together, we fought like lions and we won. You have won everything. My love, since you’re here it’s like I have started living for the first time. I sometimes think how sad it would have been if you had never come, because before I never understood what living really meant, loving someone above all else. I love you my daughter, I love your smile, I love to sing funny songs without being embarrassed, I love to kiss you, kiss you forever, I love all your little steps and victories. I love you infinitely.”
Furlan passed away in a hospital on October 15, 2016. At her funeral, the church was overflowing with people who loved her and admired her unimaginable strength and sacrifice.
It’s heartbreaking to think that Maria will never be able to see her again, but she’ll always know just how much she was loved thanks to her mother’s incredible gift.
(via Kidspot)
Now if you’ll excuse me, I really need to go hug my mom.
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