The year 2025 began for Agata Tyrpa and her husband with two lines on a pregnancy test: a new life had begun! Soon, however, joy turned to fear and anxiety. The first prenatal results showed that there was a high risk of the child having a genetic defect.
“The mid-pregnancy tests brought an unambiguous and sad result: trisomy 18 ... at the same time, we learned that our child was a girl,” Agata says in her testimony.
“I felt her movements, and we heard her heartbeat during the tests”
The ultrasound was performed on April 29, the feast day of St. Catherine of Siena. The couple decided that this saint would be their daughter’s patron saint.
“Kasia was a fighter from the very beginning. Children who are sick like her usually don't survive to birth. Our daughter was alive under my heart until the 37th week. I could feel her movements, and we could hear her heartbeat during the tests,” recalls Agata.
“When she was born, we knew that she was starting to leave us. She was very brave,” adds the mother.
From the moment of diagnosis, the whole family prayed that everything would turn out as well as possible in this dramatic and difficult situation. And, as Agata grants, that’s exactly what happened:
We were able to meet our child, hug her, kiss her, feel her warm skin, hear her breath. And above all, we were able to baptize her. And thanks to the presence of a priest who was a friend of ours, we were also able to confirm her. We had the chance to say goodbye to her, bury her, and now we can visit her grave in the cemetery. She was baptized into the Church, and she had no sins, so we have our own little saint who is our daughter.
An atmosphere of fear
Agata explains that protecting unborn life has always been one of the most important issues for her.
“In recent months, my family and I have been able to learn about this topic not only in theory, but also in a very difficult practical way,” she points out.
She explains that one of her first personal experiences in this regard was the atmosphere of fear that prevails in specialist clinics providing prenatal testing. Women over the age of 35 who are pregnant are sent there. She emphasizes that pregnancy is treated there as an illness, and the child is seen as a threat to the woman's health and life.
"Detailed tests are performed at an early stage of the child's development in order to give the woman a reason to get rid of the child as soon as possible if there are any suspicions about its health. If someone, like me, doesn’t want to undergo risky procedures to confirm or rule out diseases, they’re treated as irresponsible, backward, and obsessed," explains Agata.
For her and her husband, any medical and diagnostic intervention that could endanger the life of their daughter Kasia was unacceptable. “So our daughter lived as long as the One who brought her into being, God, decided,” she says.
Regular visits to the pregnancy pathology clinic at the university hospital in Krakow were also a difficult experience for Agata.
“There, I encountered unacceptable, objectified treatment of patients and their unborn children. Procedures always took precedence over the well-being and peace of mind of the mother and child. But Kasia and I survived these traumatic experiences,” emphasizes Agata.
Kasia survived for two days after birth
The birth took place at the same university hospital. A C-section was necessary. It was only upon reaching the delivery room that Agata and her daughter were finally surrounded by positive care.
“As soon as Kasia was born, it was clear that her condition was very serious and that her presence among us was a matter of hours, maybe a few days,” Agata says.
The girl survived for two days after birth. As her mother admits, it was the most difficult, but also – although it sounds unbelievable – the most beautiful time for their family.
“The moments my husband and I shared with our daughter wouldn’t have been possible without the professional help of the staff and their care, kindness, devotion, and discreet and compassionate support. We’ll never forget the faces, words, and gestures of these people. After difficult experiences with various medical facilities during pregnancy, during a few days in the hospital we regained our faith in doctors,” Agata says.
She explains that “after experiencing the time when Kasia was developing and living under my heart, I know for sure and will always say it out loud: There is no diagnosis or circumstance that would justify abortion — the killing of an unborn child.”
"Regardless of faith and worldview, on a physiological and psychological level, abortion is a crime against a child and a violation against the mother, wreaking havoc on the marriage and family. Although the last nine months have been a very difficult time for me — for us — full of different emotions and fears, it has also been a unique and beautiful period. I wouldn’t give up a single minute of the time that we, as parents, spent with our daughter, and our older children with their little sister," she admits.
Life is changed, not ended...
Faith in God was crucial for Agata and her entire family in coping with the experience of suffering and the loss of their beloved child. The death of a loved one, experienced in communion with God, takes on a deeper meaning.
"In recent months, our family has been surrounded by an outpouring of prayer, the power of which we have felt in a tangible way. Thanks to this, we were able to say, ‘Thy will be done’ at every stage of Kasia's life.”
“Thanks to this, we were able to be with our daughter and help our two older children confront her illness and death. Thanks to God's presence in all this, we didn’t give in to despair, and in our deep sadness we received comfort," explains Agata.
She recognizes that God put people on her path who, with their presence, kind words, and tender gestures, supported her and her family on this difficult journey of coping with the loss of their daughter.
"Our little Kasia, by her very existence, brought out enormous reserves of goodness in all of us. Her life and death brought my husband and me closer together. In the most difficult moments, I was aware of how important the support of the child's father and loved ones was.”
“I can imagine the enormous burden faced by women who hear dramatic news about their child's health and are left alone to deal with it. Such a situation can lead to the most tragic solutions," she emphasizes.
Legal protection for unborn life is essential
“That is why I now know that we must fight for the absolute legal protection of unborn life and sanctions for those who, taking advantage of the mother's difficult situation and her weakness, persuade her to kill her child. A woman who is carrying a sick child and is facing a difficult life situation should be supported in the fight for the lives of both,” she adds.
Agata points out that “today's abortion propaganda is rife with lies about the alleged ‘good of the mother’ and the desire to ‘spare the child suffering.’”
“Providence led me to the best doctors and midwives, who took care of me and made me feel safe,” she notes.
The role of perinatal hospice care
Kasia suffered from numerous serious internal organ dysfunctions, but she also received all the necessary medication, was fed, hydrated, kept warm, and, above all, felt the closeness of her parents.
“After we learned about Kasia's health condition and prospects, we contacted the Tishner Perinatal Hospice in Krakow. We had several exceptional meetings with a doctor working at this hospice,” Agata recounts.
She admits that these meetings were a turning point in what was a sad experience for her and her family.
“The doctor was the first of the doctors I had contact with at the time to shift the focus from death to life in our conversation. From that moment on, we began to enjoy the pregnancy again, giving thanks for every day we spent together with Kasia. And now we focus on life,” adds Agata.
"September 11, the date of our daughter Katarzyna Faustyna's funeral, was the moment that closed the most difficult and one of the most precious stages of our family's life,” she concludes.
She’s convinced that although her beloved daughter Kasia is not physically present here on earth, she is alive, surrounded by the most perfect divine Love.
“We strongly believe that thanks to this Love and the intercession of our little saintly daughter, we will all meet again one day, forever,” she says.
