 Mom refused Abortion now savedby her son Subscribe   
  From:  David (DavidABrown)    6/1/2001 7:47 am  
To:  ALL   (1 of 7)  
 
  52.1  
 
Mom Who Refused Abortion Has Son Save Her Life 
Phoenix, AZ -- Nearly two decades ago, Robyn Bowen refused when a doctor 
said she needed an abortion to save her life. Today, her 19-year-old son 
will give her a kidney and a chance to keep living. 

Bowen was three months pregnant when a doctor at the Mayo Clinic in 
Rochester, Minn., warned that her unborn baby would drain important 
nutrients and put a strain on her failing kidneys. After 12 hours of 
induced labor, Bowen delivered a healthy baby, Brandon Clute, three weeks 
early. 

"We are going back to the same place that told us he would kill me and now 
he is giving me life again," said Bowen, who grew up in Mesa, Arizona. 

Bowen, 42, will be in a room today next to her son at the Mayo Clinic as 
doctors make a small incision below Clute's navel and remove one of his 
kidneys. The organ will then be placed inside his mother. It will be her 
third kidney transplant; operations in 1985 and 1989 proved unsuccessful. 

Clute is sacrificing an organ to free his mother from a dialysis machine 
and give the two a chance to make up for the many times they were 
separated by her illness. 

For more than 15 years, Bowen has relied on the machine to withdraw blood 
from her body and rinse it of toxins before pumping it back through her 
veins. She and her only child hope today's five-hour operation frees her 
from the three-hour, three-day-a-week regimen of being hooked up to a 
machine. 

But Bowen was reluctant to take a kidney from her son when he first 
offered it at 14. Clute would have to wait until he turned 18 to be 
considered, which was a relief to Bowen. 

"I hoped he would forget," Bowen said. "You never want your child to go 
through any kind of pain, especially for you." Clute didn't forget. At 5 
he thought it was cool to watch when he accompanied his mother for her 
dialysis treatment. In later years, he began to understand his mother's 
pain. He missed her during her numerous hospitalizations. He hated 
watching his mother hooked up to the machine when she received treatment 
at home. 

"I watched her get weaker and weaker and wasting away," Clute said. "I 
knew someday I would have to save my mom's life." 

Bowen tried her best to disguise her pain and be there for her son as much 
as possible. She attended community college and worked processing medical 
bills for a doctor while raising her son as a single mother. 

But it was difficult to hide the scars left by needles that drew blood 
from her arm. Those treatments once brought about a blood clot that numbed 
her hand and robbed her ability to move her fingers, which she recovered 
from after three years. 

She was still receiving treatment in 1994 when she met her future husband, 
Stephen, then a dialysis technician at an outpatient center in Scottsdale. 
Stephen Bowen fell in love with his patient and two years later they 
married. He would eventually treat his wife from their home while 
continuing to treat patients at work. 

The strain of working 10- to 14-hour days treating patients and then his 
wife soon wore on Stephen Bowen. It was difficult to watch patients who 
had become friends die and constantly be reminded of his wife's fragile 
hold on life. In July, he left his job and joined the medical records 
division at Scottsdale Health Care Osborn. 

"We hadn't really spent much time together and when we did see each other, 
she was hooked up to the machine," Stephen Bowen said. "The machine set 
the tone for everything." 

Robyn Bowen also has found strength in her faith and received financial 
and emotional support from friends. Her church, East Valley Bible Church 
in Gilbert, has donated thousands for her travel and medical costs and 
continues to hold fund-raisers, including one last weekend that raised 
$2,900. 

Last year Bowen got to fulfill a promise when she recovered enough from a 
serious illness to attend her son's graduation at Dobson High School. 

Now Bowen hopes her son's kidney helps her make up for lost time. 






David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
  
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  From:  Ruth (RUTHMARX)    6/6/2001 9:50 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (2 of 7)  
 
  52.2 in reply to 52.1  
 
WOW Praise the Lord! We can never know what God has planned for something unless we allow Him freedom to work in our life. I hope we can see an update on this woman. 
Ruth


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  From:  wknight001   6/20/2001 6:58 pm  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (3 of 7)  
 
  52.3 in reply to 52.1  
 
Dear David, 
I think some of the most moving Pro-Life stories are the stories of the abortion survivors and the near-abortion survivors. 

Sincerely, 

Jeffrey Thomas 
COR AD COR LOQUITUR 

 
  
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  From:  Natureboy (Vamp_Rob)   6/24/2001 4:09 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (4 of 7)  
 
  52.4 in reply to 52.3  
 
Nice, but if you would've read every story on the subject, you'd know she got the kidney problems because she gave birth when she shouldn't have.

 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    6/24/2001 7:18 pm  
To:  Natureboy (Vamp_Rob)   (5 of 7)  
 
  52.5 in reply to 52.4  
 
How does giving birth affect the Mom's kidneys 19 years later? 





David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
  
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  From:  Natureboy (Vamp_Rob)   6/25/2001 1:00 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (6 of 7)  
 
  52.6 in reply to 52.5  
 
trust me it does, the same way certain child-time diseases influence cancer susceptability. 
  
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   From:  David (DavidABrown)    1/21/2002 8:25 pm  
To:  ALL   (7 of 7)  
 
  52.7 in reply to 52.1  
 
Subject:   Triplet Siblings Avoid Abortion, Pursue Their Dreams
Source:   Idaho Statesman; November 28, 2001

Triplet Siblings Avoid Abortion, Pursue Their Dreams

Nampa, ID -- Now freshmen at Northwest Nazarene University, triplets
Sarah, Corey, Nicole Crist say that the generosity of family and neighbors
made a big difference in their success.

Sarah, Nicole and Corey are proof that faith will help you through even in
bleak times.

The triplets survived tough times early in life when they lost their
father and their working mother had to struggle to make ends meet. Now
settled in their dormitory on the leafy NNU campus in Nampa, the triplets
have come a long way.

"I knew the Lord was going to take care of us, and he did," said their
mother Karan Beck , who drove to Nampa with her second husband, Harry,
from their home in Hillsboro, Ore to spend Thanksgiving with the triplets.

Then married to the triplets' father, Jim Crist, Karan had suffered
through three miscarriages before finally becoming pregnant with the
three.

But even that joyous event had its perils.

Complications occurred in Karan's sixth month of pregnancy. One of the
babies was ready to be born early and the doctors suggested that she agree
to abort one baby to save the others. The doctors warned that the babies
may be born with severe handicaps or abnormalities unless drastic steps
were taken.

She declined the suggestion to selectively abort and prayed that the
babies be spared. All the babies were delivered fine a few weeks later.

"It was a relief when they were born," Karan said.

But the challenges didnt end there.

Jim Crist was diagnosed with advanced lymphatic cancer one month after the
babies were born. He died when the children were barely toddlers.

"It was an overwhelming time in our lives," said Karan, who resolved to
raise her children the best she could.

The burden was eased with the help of fellow members at Hillsboro Church
of the Nazarene and people who heard of the family's plight and rallied
behind the family. They helped babysit the children and gave respite to
Karan, who ran a home business as a hairdresser.

The children were well known locally, and some offered to become surrogate
families for the triplets. "We had people who babysat us at night even
when we were sick," Sarah Crist said.

Karan married Harry Beck when the children were about 8.

The Crist kids said it was hard not having a father early in life, but
said the love they received from others helped make up for it.

"It was like being a part of a huge family," Nicole Crist said.

"Im thankful for having a supportive family and for having these great
people around," Corey Crist said.

Today, the triplets are looking forward to the future. Nicole wants to
work in TV or radio production. Sarah wants to work either as a
cosmetologist or an interior designer. Corey wants to be an employee of a
big company.

To see a picture of Karan with the newborn triplets, go to:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/daily/20011128/LocalNews/191524-95748.jpg

To see a picture of the triplets as they look now, go to:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/daily/20011128/LocalNews/191524-95749.jpg

--
You can help women make positive, life-affirming choices when confronting
an unexpected pregnancy. Please provide a link on your web site to
Pregnancy Centers Online at http://www.pregnancycenters.org




David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
  
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