Eliška had not yet been born when her mother was no longer alive.
She was 27, lived in Třebíč, Czech Republic, and was 15 weeks pregnant when she suffered a brain hemorrhage. Her husband found her unconscious at home. Shortly afterward, at Brno University Hospital, doctors confirmed that she was brain-dead. A vascular malformation, detected during a previous pregnancy, had caused the stroke.
The doctors then made a difficult decision: to keep her vital functions going so that the baby could continue to grow. And so 117 days passed.
On August 15, 2019, by cesarean section and at 34 weeks, Eliška was born: healthy, weighing 2,1 kg and measuring 42 cm. The hospital believes this is the longest artificially sustained pregnancy on record in a brain-dead mother.
With the father and other family members present, the team then disconnected the mother’s life support. The girl was left in her dad’s care.