Not many babies are born on Christmas Day – and even fewer are born to a terminally ill mother whose dying wish is to hold her baby.
Yet this is the story of tiny baby Sal, born at 12:04 a.m. on Christmas Day weighing just 1.9 pounds.
His mother, 22-year-old Breanne Smaaslet, is dying of cancer. The young woman’s last wish was to hold her unborn baby, and on Dec. 25 she did just that.
“He’s so adorable, he’s perfect. Absolutely perfect. We couldn’t be happier,” said Rose Horan-Pachota, Smaaslet’s aunt. “Baby’s here, and mama’s here, and they’re both fighting and we couldn’t ask for anything more. It’s a Christmas miracle for us.”
The young Langley, B.C. woman was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, the same cancer Terry Fox had, three years ago when she was just 18 years old.
Doctors never expected her to last this long, but she had a reason to keep fighting – the tiny boy growing inside her, baby Salvatore, or Sal, which translates to saviour.
“I can’t wait to see him,” Smaaslet told CTV News before Christmas. “I always wanted to be a mom.”
Now both mother and son are fighting for their lives – one in palliative care, the other in the neonatal intensive care unit. Baby Sal didn’t need help breathing initially, but now needs some assistance.
“[Sal’s] doing very, very good considering everything he’s gone through,” said Horan-Pachota. “One nurse described him as very vigorous…and I said, ‘yes, he’s a fighter just like his mama.’”
Smaaslet was hoping to deliver Sal 28 weeks into her pregnancy, but when her blood pressure dropped dangerously on Christmas Eve doctors decide to perform the C-section at 26-and-a-half weeks.
Her aunt said she held Smaaslet’s hand during the birth, and even got to cut the umbilical cord. Words can’t describe what it was like to see her niece’s dream of holding her son come true, Horan-Pachota added.
“She said, ‘hello’,” laughed Horan-Pachota. “She was very happy to see him…[and] we are very, very happy that Breanne was able to get her Christmas wish.”
The fact that the young woman became pregnant in the first place was something of a miracle. After her diagnosis, Smaaslet underwent surgery to remove a tumour from her leg, but it failed to stop her cancer.
With her condition continuing to deteriorate, the last thing she was looking for was a relationship.
“Every time I went to the doctor it just went downhill,” she said before Christmas. “I just wanted to be alone so I didn’t end up hurting anyone.”
Yet somehow, love found her. She met a man, Adam, who would eventually become her husband.
It wasn’t planned, but she became pregnant, and the couple got married in September. Tragically, Adam would not live to meet their son – he passed away suddenly last month.
“We don’t know what from yet,” Smaaslet said. “I miss him so much. He was the love of my life.”
Now Smaaslet’s aunt believes Adam is watching over his wife and son.
“I believe Adam is overhead watching both of them, and helping both of them through this,” Horan-Pachota said. “And I feel very blessed about that.”
Smaaslet is currently in “incredible pain” from the C-section and the cancer, says her aunt. The family is trying to keep her comfortable, hoping that she will recover enough to hold her baby again.
“We know her time here is short, but anything is possible,” says her aunt. “Anything is possible.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family take care of the baby, and has already raised more than $12,000. To donate, click here.
With files from CTV Vancouver’s Michele Brunoro
