Brain-dead woman kept alive 54 days delivers miracle baby

OMAHA, Neb. -- A miracle baby named Angel was born 54 days after his mom was declared brain-dead. The family of 22-year-old Karla Perez decided to keep her alive to give Angel a chance.

Perez was already a doting mother to a 3-year-old girl named Genesis. She was told from an early age that her juvenile rheumatoid arthritis would make it difficult to have children, so she was thrilled when she learned she would have another child.

Her pregnancy took a turn for the worst on Feb. 8, when she was 22-weeks pregnant. She went to the hospital with a severe headache, and doctors discovered that she had brain bleeding. By Feb. 9, she had been declared clinically brain-dead, according to Methodist Women's Hospital in Omaha.

The next day, a team of professionals met to discuss the options. The team, with the blessing of Perez's family, decided to try to keep her alive long enough for her baby to grow bigger in her womb, according to a press release sent to ABC from the hospital.

During that time, baby Angel's life hung in the balance. Perez had to be closely monitored, the hospital explained, because there was a risk she could develop infection or go into cardiac arrest.

Their goal was to wait until she reached 32 weeks to deliver. On April 4 at 30 weeks, though, a surgeon had to deliver a 2-lb., 12.6-oz. boy by C-section.

Baby Angel was immediately transported to the NICU, and two days later his mom passed away. She had asked to be an organ donor, and four of her organs -- including her heart -- were donated.

So far, the baby is doing well under the watchful eye of her grandmother and other relatives. The hospital staff had recorded the heartbeats of Angel and his mom, so they placed them in teddy bears that they gave to the family.

Angel is the first baby to be successfully delivered to a mother on life support since 1999, the hospital reports.

Photos used with permission of Methodist Health System.