The parents of a boy with multiple health challenges who was not expected to survive birth are preparing to celebrate his third birthday.
At his 22-week scan, Jude Bedingfield was diagnosed with two severe genetic conditions — Partial Trisomy 13 and Cri du chat syndrome — and the neurodegenerative disorder Pontocerebellar Hypoplasia.
Despite a severe prognosis by medics, Mum Heidi recalls: “we decided to give Jude a chance, and it is the best decision we ever made”.
Defying expectations
Just before birth, Heidi explained, the family were “referred to the palliative care team at the Evelina Hospital in London to discuss comfort care, as Jude was expected to not survive birth, and if he did, it was expected that he would pass away within days if not hours.
“Once Jude was born, there were still a lot of unknowns, but after some support at birth, he began to breathe on his own with minimal support.” In the days and months that have followed, Jude — who will be three in September — has made surprising progress and is defying all expectations.
Heidi said that as parents, she and Ryan have found Jude to be “a very determined boy” and going forward, they want to give him “the best opportunities so that his potential can be fulfilled.
“As he has grown, we have found that he is most affected developmentally and neurologically. Despite this, he is a very happy boy and to us, he is just Jude.”
Beautiful girl
In June, Rebecca Shelley shared how she resisted being pushed into having an abortion after being told her baby had a 99.9 per cent chance of being born with Down’s syndrome.
When informing family and friends about the diagnosis, she wrote: “One thing we know for sure is that we absolutely love our baby boy or girl, and we can’t wait to welcome them.”
Violet was born four weeks early by emergency caesarean section and taken to intensive care. She needed surgery and had trouble breastfeeding. Despite the challenges, Rebecca shared: “It felt natural to be her mother.”
Having given up full-time work to be there for her daughter, she describes motherhood as no “fairytale”, but added: “When my beautiful, sociable girl waves at everyone – which she always does – most wave back.”
Would you have the courage to choose life?
Abortion has been legal in England, Wales and Scotland since 1967, and in Northern Ireland since 2020. Women in England and Wales can now kill their babies in the womb at any time without sanction, although the 24-week limit still applies to doctors. In Scotland, abortion is legal up to 24 weeks for most reasons, while in Northern Ireland, abortion is available on demand, for any or no reason, up to twelve weeks. In all parts of the UK, abortion because of disability is allowed up to birth.
