Mum who refused to abort baby girl with rare condition says there is hope

A mother who refused to abort her baby girl after she was diagnosed with a rare brain condition has shared her experience and encouraged others that there is hope.

Sarah Forster found out that her baby, Mia, now over a year old, had Dandy-Walker Syndrome at a 19-week scan. The condition, which affects just 1 in 10,000 children, involves a congenital brain malformation.

Doctors suggested that abortion was the best option but Ms Forster stressed that it was never a choice she would make. She told Cumbrian local paper The Mail:

"The doctors told us that termination would be the best option for Mia which wasn't ever an option for us, we always wanted to give her a chance at life."

"I carried on with the pregnancy and got private scans of our own and saw Mia was sucking her thumb and doing normal things babies do in utero. So that solidified to me what we were doing in keeping Mia was the best thing to do".

Baby Mia was delivered in November 2021 and initially thrived outside the womb. After a year, she returned to hospital for an operation which unfortunately resulted in complications. Ms Forster added:

"It should've been a straight forward operation which normally takes an hour or two and children are out within a few days. But unfortunately, Mia went into cardiac arrest and the surgery was six and a half hours."

"Since then, she's developed seizures, infections and bad temperatures, she hadn't recovered fully as expected. She is slowly coming round - she's been suffering seizures really bad but she is slowly coming back to us - there is going to be a long journey ahead."

Despite the challenges Mia faces, Ms Forster encourages others facing similar complications that they do not have to abort:

"I want other parents of children with the same condition to know that termination isn't always the answer and some people might feel like what the doctor say goes which isn't the case.

"I couldn't think of anything worse than not giving Mia the life that she was entitled to - it's not all doom and gloom."