It was 31-year-old Diane Ugler’s worst nightmare. While she should have been relieved that her husband, Mark, 52, survived surgery to remove a cancerous polyp from his colon, she was devastated to learn that his lungs had been irreversibly scarred by his subsequent chemotherapy.
Mark was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis and doctors declared his condition life-threatening. Her husband had only five or six days left to live.
The couple were expecting their fifth child and Diane’s due date was two weeks ago. She had originally planned for a natural birth, but when Mark turned to her and said, “I’d like to see the baby,” the devoted wife and mother changed her plans. Instead, she chose to be induced to ensure her husband had a chance to conceive their newborn daughter before she was gone.
On January 18, 2012, Diane was induced and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl in a hospital bed pulled up next to her husband’s bed.
Then baby Savannah was placed in his father’s arms and held there for 45 minutes until his strength began to let him down. Diane’s husband cried and looked sad as he looked at his newborn baby.
Mark falls into a coma three days after Savannah’s birth and dies shortly thereafter. Diane remembers placing Savannah on her chest and how Mark’s hand moved towards her daughter while he was in a coma. A father’s love seems to know no bounds.
