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AN IRISH COUPLE has spoken about the difficult decision they faced after finding out that their unborn baby had a fatal foetal abnormality.
Michelle and Vin Manley decided to take their pregnancy until full term after discovering that their child would not survive outside the womb.
However, the Drogheda couple told RTÉ’s Late Late Show last night that they think anyone in the same position should be able to make their own choice.
“There is no right and there is no wrong thing to do from that moment on,” said Michelle, a nurse.
“The right thing to do is what is right for you and your unborn baby.”
She said she realised her own child would seriously ill after a 20-week scan and that staff at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin subsequently told her there was no chance of life after birth.
The couple spent a number of days considering their two options: continue with the pregnancy or travel to the UK for a termination.
“We were lucky enough to be in a position where we could continue,” Michelle told presenter Ryan Tubridy.
We just decided that this baby was going to decide what happened. We handed over power.
He was a jelly bean at the time. We didn’t know he was Jamie.
We just said: ‘You know what, jelly bean? You decide when you come, how you come and I think that’s what made it OK.
Short life
The couple said they felt their son “knew what he was doing” and that they decided “to let him keep going”.
“We really firmly believe that Jamie was brought us into our lives to make us happy, not to make us sad,” Michelle said.
She said she and her partner “looked forward” to her scans throughout the pregnancy, as they allowed them to feel closer to their unborn child.
“We were getting to see him move, hear his heartbeat,” she said.
That was our time with our baby … That was our time being his parents.
The couple’s son was born on 9 January, 2015 – his exact due date – and died three hours later.
He lived from 10.30pm to 1.30am, Michelle said.
“We told him how happy we were to meet him, how courageous he is.
“We were never meant to have that time and he gave it to us,” she said.
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Jourinal, please don’t allow comments if all you are going to do is shred anything that doesn’t suit your biased narrative, either open said article for comments and leave the opinions and/or observations up or don’t open them at all if all you are going to do is interfere with them.
@Ken O’Neill: If you’d like to dictate what goes on in a comments section then you may need to set up your own site.
@Diarmuid Hunt:
I already have, and it’s a free speech zone, something you and you’re authoritarian ilk wouldn’t be interested in.
@Ken O’Neill:
Why are you still here then?
Looking at reports coming out, something is seriously off about this.
@Thomas Gareth McMahon: Tell me more. Have a look at this video of the fire and let me know anything you see that’s odd.
@Thomas Gareth McMahon: There is literally no event that some won’t look at and IMMEDIATELY assume it’s fake. and then seek out those that would support their belief.
You’re the very definition of a “reflexive contrarian”.
“reflexive contrarianism is, as the economist Adam Ozimek puts it, a “brain rotting drug.” Those who succumb to that drug “lose the ability to judge others they consider contrarian, become unable to tell good evidence from bad, a total unanchoring of belief that leads them to cling to low quality contrarian fads.””
@Tricia G: I mentioned nothing about it been fake.
@Thomas Gareth McMahon: What’s “seriously off about this”?
Do you think, perhaps, the reason it looks odd to you is there’s a mismatch between what you expect and what you see, not because there’s anything actually odd about this fire, but it’s because you don’t actually know or have a wrong idea of what a fire should look like.
Look at past Forest fires, like the Camp Fire in California a few years ago. Compare it with this fire, see if there’s anything different with this fire, or from you expectations.
@David Jordan: this footage really brings home the reality of this disaster.
Difficult to comprehend when you just hear it on the news,etc.
Its really hard to grasp.
@David Jordan: No civil defence alarms were sounded. The initial fire was deemed contained 2 hours before it spread in earnest – a big reason many were caught off guard. The local government actively cut off escape routes and didn’t provide any assistance/info on how to escape besides, and I quote, ‘Jump in the ocean.’ The traffic jams which resulted became an inferno, most of the dead died in their cars. People are being identified by their jewellery because their bodies have been turned to ash. All easily preventable deaths. People on the island have been sounding the alarm that something is not right. Do some digging, it’s all there, go look for it. Just because MSM isn’t saying it’s fishy doesn’t mean it’s not fishy. Dunno why you’re acting so smug David.
@Dylan Bvrn: I see.
Incompetence interpreted as malice by the conspiracy minded.
“The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory, is that conspiracy theorists believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is actually chaotic. The truth is that it is not The Iluminati, or The Jewish Banking Conspiracy, or the Gray Alien Theory.
The truth is far more frightening – Nobody is in control.
The world is rudderless.” – Alan Moore
Also, did you see the winds that day? The wind increased to near hurricane force and fanned the flames. The fire, that seemed contained, expanded rapidly. You are familiar with bowing on an ember to make flames?
As for the civil defence alarms, they are only supposed to sound for tsunamis. The idea is they were not sounded as they would cause people to flee inland, towards the fire. Also, the power went out.
“local government actively cut off escape routes”
Evidence needed.
@Tricia G: Oh goody! Another lecture on Tricia’s new favourite expression.
@David Jordan: Civil defence sirens are supposed to be used to warn populations of approaching danger – not exclusively for tsunamis. The very fact that many of these deaths can be attributed to incompedence/lack of action is enough to warrant a closer look. People didn’t know a fire was happening until their houses were in flames. This could have been prevented.
it’s funny that literally nobody mentioned a conspiracy, jewish bankers, or any of that crap, but as soon as someone says ‘something feels off’ you are ready to talk down to them as nutjob wackos who dont understand fire. How about you point that lazer-focused scrutinty at those who are supposed to be managing this disaster – may be more fruitful than jumping the gun on people expressing vague disbelief on the official reporting.
@David Jordan: As for ‘Evidence needed’ I would say just go onto any social media platform and actually look for posts from people in Lahaina, but you probably wouldn’t believe anything could possibly be amiss unless it is explicitly stated by a Big Boy Official Source.
In lieu of evidence, here is a quote: “The midwit is incapable of drawing on multiple streams of information, from many different domains, to understand the novel information in the broader context of a system. To compensate, the midwit turns inward, focusing with increasing resolution and detail into the confines of the information itself. To the midwit, this is nuance. To the genius, he is missing the forest for the trees.” -Me ma.
Comments closed on yet another Israeli terror attack on defenceless Palestinian’s. Comments section was obviously not dancing to the sick IDF tune…journal yet again exposing their true agenda and nature. They have some neck pretending to bastions of truthfullness and righteousnous
@Tomás: Indeed they are bought globalist shills.
@Tomás: .
.
That’s what I was alluding to in my comment above.
@Ken O’Neill:
.
Follow the money…
Absolutely horrendous. Weirdest “wildfire” I’ve ever seen reported on.
The rich elites will be delighted, they have been fighting the locals in lahina for decades to buy their property. What a stroke of luck for them. I bet Oprah’s path she build through her 1000 acres came in handy. She put it there so locals could escape wild fires.
@James murphy: Why is Oprah singled out? Her nearest property is 30 km away on the east side of the island. Clint Eastwood has property just north of Lahaina, Mick Fleetwood has property just east of the town. I noticed others post about Oprah last night, is there source for this claim?
RIP to all those that lost their lives. How does metal melt in a house fire?
@Leslie Dwyer: and trees stay standing… Strange indeed
@Leslie Dwyer: it depends on the metal what it’s melting point is for example aluminum is 660°C (1220°F) it must have been terrifying for those caught up in the fire may they rest in peace. I can only imagine how devastating this tragedy.
@Tomás: A simple google search would explain why trees are still standing.
“no species is adapted to live in fire itself, but animals and plants can adapt to a fire regime. A fire regime includes, among other things, fire frequency, fire intensity and patterns of fuel consumption. Plants have a distinct disadvantage, compared to animals, in the face of fires. They can’t run, fly, creep or crawl out of a fire’s path. But they have adapted to survive, and even depend on, regular fire.
From armouring themselves with thick bark to developing ways to protect precious seeds, trees have developed several fascinating adaptations in response to a predictable fire pattern.”
This nonsense conspiracy theory that it was all “staged”, proven by the fact trees “didn’t burn” (spoiler – they did) is up there with the flat earth one and that birds aren’t real but spies for the Govt.
@Tomás: Look at photos of past forest fires, trees usually survive the fires.
@David Jordan: they do, but should metal melt and brick houses completely disintegrate in the same type of wild fires?
@Tomás: Trees contain quite a lot of water. The wood will not burn until the water boils off. This takes some time. The outer wood and bark may char, but leave the inner wood standing.
(You can try an experiment to demonstrate this. Take a twig from a living tree. Hold it over a flame. It will not burn for some time. You may see water boiling off as steam.)
I believe wind had an effect on the heat of the fire, much as a bellows might be used in metal smelting to raise the heat of a furnace. There was a tropical storm in the area at the time, (which is believed to have caused an electical fire).
@Tricia G: birds are real???
Shooting fish in a barrel.
It is always highly entertaining to read somebody trying to make a connection between ‘free speech’ and the comments sections on The Journal.
@James O’Brien: You’re.
Bomb is a curious word to use for sure…..
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