When Your Baby Is Born with a Brain Injury: One Mother’s Story of Hope with Anja Baker
Originally published at Bioethics Babe- Categories
- Human Dignity
When your child is born with a severe brain injury, how do you grieve the future you imagined while fully embracing the child in front of you? Where do you find hope when doctors, therapies, uncertainty, and endless medical decisions become your new normal?
In this powerful episode of Bioethics Babe podcast, Arina Grossu Agnew sits down with Anja Baker—pro-life advocate, wife, mother of four, and disability parent—to share the remarkable story of her son, Hershey, who suffered a severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) brain injury at birth.
Anja opens up about the heartbreak of receiving a devastating diagnosis, the realities of medical parenting, and how her family’s faith, community, and supportive school helped them find hope and to “dream again.” She also offers encouragement for parents navigating grief, disability, and life-altering diagnoses while challenging our culture’s assumptions about human dignity and the value of every life.
In this episode, we discuss:
- What HIE (hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy) is and how it changed Hershey’s life
- How parents can grieve while continuing to love and celebrate their child
- Why human dignity is never determined by ability, intelligence, independence, or any other characteristic
- The realities of raising a child with profound disabilities
- How parents become their child’s strongest medical advocate
- Why faith, community, respite care, and support systems are essential
- How Harbor Day School gave Anja’s family the “space to dream again”
- What hope looks like when circumstances are difficult
- Practical encouragement for families facing life-changing diagnoses
Whether you’re a parent, healthcare professional, pro-life advocate, or simply someone seeking a deeper understanding of disability and human dignity, this conversation will challenge, encourage, and inspire you.
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