Compatible with life: the joy of John Paul Hauser

What does it mean for a baby to be “incompatible with life?” Even
before a baby is born, doctors are doing tests, reviewing
ultrasounds, and monitoring the mother closely for unexpected
results or problems. If the unborn baby has too serious a
condition, parents might be told by doctors that their baby is
“incompatible with life.” That’s to say, it’s not expected to
live long, if at all, and parents can face a choice of life or
death for this person they’ve not yet met.


After doctors identified Trisomy 13 in John Paul Hauser, his
parents were coached to consider having an abortion. Despite
having this major genetic corruption, and a life that might last
for minutes if at all, John Paul's parents chose to give him that
life. And live he did.


/// Faith Full is a Catholic podcast hosted by Tony Ganzer. This
episode features Tami and Tracy Hauser, and Barb Baxter, the
parents and godmother of John Paul Hauser.


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The reflection of John Paul Hauser's joy still radiates from
cherished family videos. In one clip, he's sitting on his mom's
lap as she claps his hands in tune with "The Hokey Pokey." "The
Hokey Pokey" is one of those universal songs to get kids moving,
and be silly and joyful. John Paul’s condition meant he
experienced the hokey pokey and so many things differently than
most kids, but he still enjoyed them. He didn’t speak, but he
communicated in his own way. He played. He enjoyed
music—Schubert’s Ave Maria was a favorite.


It’s important we start with some details of John Paul Hauser the
person, because there was a chance we would never have met him.
Tami and her husband Tracy made the choice to give John Paul a
chance to live, even though he would face great difficulty.


"They noticed some some things looked abnormal on the ultrasound
and then they sent us in for more testing," Tami says. "They told
us that he had this condition called Trisomy 13, which is a
corruption of all the chromosomes, and it's the most severe
corruption, and that they considered it "incompatible with life."
They told us that he wasn't probably going to make it to birth
and if he did he would most likely only live like a few minutes
or maybe at best a few hours after birth." Tami and Tracy faced
this news with shock, devastation, and fear. 


"The very next thing out of their mouth is that we should have an
abortion. I just remember like thinking, I just I couldn't
believe that they were telling us to have, they were coaching us
to have an abortion. I was always like, I didn't realize it went
like this. I just thought people left these appointments and then
discerned and decided to have an abortion, but here were just
being advised ... and more than once," Tami continues. "Finally
we just said this baby is not going to die at our hands and you
know for us it just wasn't even a decision, like it was just like
no. This is…that we would never end our child's life."