A 26-year-old woman who suffered a fatal brain aneurysm gave birth to twin boys at a Michigan hospital weeks after she was declared officially brain dead.


Christine Bolden, who had been happy and healthy only moments before the tragic March incident, suddenly got a horrible pain and fell to the ground.


Two aneurysms, hidden since her birth, had finally burst.

Doctors declared her brain dead, but she was miraculously able to carry her twins, Alexander and Nicholas, to 25 weeks and deliver them on April 17.


Heaven Can Wait: 26-year-old Christine Bolden gave birth to Alexander and Nicholas while she was brain dead, in her last act of motherhood


Little Angels: Alexander and Nicholas were just six inches long when they were delivered on April 17

Heavy Heart: Nicholas weighed only one pound nine ounces and Alexander only one pound five ounces

Danielle Bolden, Christine's aunt, spoke to WOODTV8 about how difficult it was to keep her niece on life support in a desperate attempt to save her children.


'It's hard,' said Danielle, welling up with tears. 'Real hard.'


She said that Christine was walking with her boyfriend and three-year old son when she fell to the ground on March 6. They said she looked like she was just in a deep sleep and couldn't fathom how dire the situation had truly become.

'I guess she had a pain in her head,' Ms Bolden said. 'We didn't think it was as bad as it was.'

Ms Bolden said that doctors told the family that the two aneurisms that took Christine's life were present from her birth and that the stress of pregnancy may have exacerbated them.

Christine had already given birth to three children and Ms Bolden said they did not fully understand the diagnosis.


Family Pain: Christine's aunt, Danielle Bolden, said she was happy and healthy only moments before two aneurysms burst in her brain


Keeping the Faith: The Boldens issued an obituary for Christine for March 6, the day her aneurysm burst, but still held out hope she would recover


After she was declared brain dead, the family began the grieving process by making T-shirts in memorial of Christine's passing.


They even printed an official obituary.

However, the family refused to give up, and kept hope alive that she would somehow survive to see her little boys.


'We used to rub on her belly and talk to the babies,' said Ms Bolden.

After weeks of watching Christine languish in the hospital bed, her increasingly high blood pressure became a danger to the children inside her, and the family had to make a tough call: Christine or the twins.

They made the difficult decision to take her off life support in order to try and save the twins.

Doctors performed her C-section without anesthesia at the family's request, in the hopes that the pain might rouse their sleeping Christine.



To the Rescue: On April 17, Christine's blood pressure reached dangerous levels and the family made the difficult decision to take her off life support and have doctors deliver the twins




Will They Survive? The twins are still in intensive neonatal care at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Michigan, but doctors say their condition is fragile and are assessing their health 'day by day'

Cost of Motherhood: Doctors said Christine was born with the aneurysms, but that her pregnancy may have exacerbated them

'Christine's grandmother told them not to numb her because maybe when they cut her (for the C-section) she would have felt that, and woke up saying, 'wait a minute I can feel that! What is you all doing to me!' But it didn't happen,' Ms Bolden told WOODTV8.

Alexander and Nicholas entered the world via C-section just as their mother left it.


held on to life until the last possible moment to ensure the safety of her twins.'

'Once the babies were born; that was the end of her,' Ms Bolden said.


The boys were only about six inches long; Nicholas weighed only one pound, nine ounces and Alexander only one pound, five ounces.



'God, he could have took her and the boys,' said Ms Bolden. 'But he left the boys. That's a miracle.'


The hospital is keeping a careful eye on the boys, keeping them in the neonatal intensive care unit as they fight for their lives.



Remembered: Christine, remembered by her friends as 'full of life,' left behind three other young children

Hospital officials said they are in fragile condition and are assessing the boys' health 'day by day.'

Bolden's family set up an account at 5/3 Bank in Grand Rapids in Christine Bolden's name for anyone who would like to help out the family.

Love Lost: Christine's boyfriend, Mike, was with her when the aneurysms burst

Christine's friends and former coworkers are rallying behind the family, showing their support in any way that they can.

'She was full of life — so bubbly,' Christine's former manager, Astriana Sari, 31, remembered.

Christine used to work at the Tiffany Woods apartment complex in Muskegon, cleaning and readying apartments for rental.

'She was all around a very funny and nice girl,' Ms Sari said, adding that her three other young children were the highlight of her life.

'She always brought her family and kids and nieces and nephews to events,' Ms Sari said. 'Just like other mothers, she was very caring about her kids. They were very well mannered; she raised them well.'

When she heard the news of what happened to Christine, she was shocked.

'All I could think about was how we take life for granted. It could happen to anyone,' Ms Sari said.


'I'm praying for the twins to be all right. Hopefully they will make it.'






Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2133212/Death-brings-new-life-Mother-killed-brain-aneurysm-miraculously-delivers-twin-boys.html#ixzz1slo3AhxQ