Texas Woman Paralyzed in Car Crash Gives Birth to 'Miracle' Baby
April 21, 2011— -- At first it seemed as if Krystal Pierre was the sole survivor of a car crash that killed her sister and grandmother last August, until doctors realized that Pierre's unborn child -- Pierre was two months pregnant at the time of the crash -- had made it through the wreck as well.
The accident left the 29-year-old Houston woman paralyzed from the breastbone down (she underwent four surgeries during the course of her pregnancy), but she recently gave birth to a healthy baby boy, T.J.
Pierre says it was "incredibly bittersweet" when she found out that she was still pregnant: "All I could think was that I lost my sister and my grandmother. You feel guilty that you're alive but also grateful," she told ABCNews.com.
"I feel like my sister and my grandmother gave their lives for my son," she says. I miscarried two years ago, so I know how short and fleeting life is. Just the fact that I sustained so many injuries and the fact that I'm still alive. I feel like they gave their lives so we can live."
T.J., named after his father, Tony Joseph Pierre, was born with his left leg shorter than his right, and is missing a bone in that leg, which doctors believe is unrelated to the accident.
Dr. Sean Blackwell, Pierre's ob-gyn, says Pierre was very lucky to have had such an uneventful pregnancy.
"She was early in pregnancy at the time of the crash, so her uterus and the baby were still very tiny and protected by the belly," Blackwell told ABCNews.com. "It's still pretty amazing that she was able to have these surgeries and the necessary medication and still deliver full term, vaginally," he says.
"Things were just on her side," says Blackwell, who is a maternal-fetal specialist at at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
