Volunteer researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has made a great effort to spread awareness regarding mysterious incidents of birth defects.
Volunteers from the world-renowned research center together with staff members from the Center for Community Health Promotion Office office in Washington are handing out flyers as their main move in informing families in the Sunnyside area about unexplained occurrences of birth defects. This is especially that the cases of anencephaly is currently on the rise.
Anencephaly is one of the most serious birth defects a newborn can suffer. It is a defect wherein the baby did not develop parts of his brain and skull. The defect can be detected through ultrasound during pre-natal checkup.
Doctors say that the incomplete development of an affected baby's brain and skull is from the faulty development of his neural tube. Thus, it is among the neural tube defects that occur during the gestation period where the upper part of the neural tube did not close all the way. This causes a fault in the development of the baby's forebrain and the cerebrum.
A huge majority of babies who are affected by anencephaly die within a few hours after birth. Others live up to a few days. The longest anencephaly survivors have lived up to 3 years.
Just so recently, a couple whose unborn child was diagnosed with the condition made waves in social media. Jenna and Dan Haley of Pennsylvania, found out at 13 weeks that there has anencephaly. Instead of feeling sorry for their child, they made sure that they three of them will live the little boy's life to the fullest.
Knowing that there will be days if not hours for Shane to live once he is born, Dan and Haley made a bucket-list a little after finding out their son's condition. The bucket list included places for the three of them to go and fun stuff for all three of them to do even when Shane is still in Haley's tummy.
