A mother who fought for her premature twins to be kept alive says sharing their story means they can “fight for all of the unheard voices”.
Amanda Landingham went into labour in October, but was told that her babies were unlikely to be born alive.
However, both children were breathing when they were born, with Amanda describing them as “fierce, gorgeous babies with beating hearts”.
Pain
Medics argued with Amanda, her husband and mother about helping them to live, claiming they would be brain dead, and the twins were left on a table with no help or oxygen.
But the family refused to give up, with Amanda writing: “These little babies don’t have voices, and as their mommy and daddy, we weren’t going to sit back and do nothing, because they are humans.”
After 30 hours of “the bravest fight”, Luca – meaning “giver and bringer of light” – died. “The excruciating pain that comes with that is indescribable in every form”, Amanda commented.
Singing
Two days later, Amanda and her husband were told that the health of Kaden – their other son – was declining.
But, again, the family decided to keep fighting, with Amanda commenting: “God is still good and sovereign, and He can make all things happen, so we decided to keep fighting for him regardless of statistics and what was being said to us.”
they got to fight for all of the unheard voices
Amanda Landingham
“I had the honor of sitting with my son for about 40 minutes, just talking to him and singing to him”, Amanda explained.
“Every time I sang, he put his arms up and kicked his little feet”, she said, adding that the next morning he too died.
Speak up
“All I can think of is that if we didn’t fight for their lives, we never would’ve gotten to have those 30 hours and few days with our amazing, gorgeous, brave warriors.”
She continued that though their lives had been short, they had been able “to fight for all of the unheard voices, for all of the children and people that never got to speak up”.
In 2014, The Christian Institute’s Choose Life series included a couple who had only 15 minutes with their daughter – but said that time was extremely precious.
When Bonnie and Phil Walker were told their daughter had the life-limiting disability anencephaly, they were offered an abortion within a week.
Pure love
But they continued with the pregnancy until she was born, with Phil later describing her: “She was a little human being and that’s one of the reasons we called her Grace. By the grace of God we had this time with her.”
He described the 15 minutes they spent with baby Grace as “fifteen minutes of pure love” with Bonnie affirming: “There’s a purpose for every life, no matter how short”.