In what has to be about the saddest, most devastating story I've heard in a long time — a 2-month-old baby died after his father kissed him, something pretty much every parent does to their baby every single day.
Carl Maclaren never thought twice about giving his newborn baby Kaiden a kiss. And why would he? Moms and dads kiss their babies all the time, because it's instinctive.
But when doctors informed him and Kaiden's mother that their precious baby had contracted the herpes simplex virus, or the cold sore virus, they were faced with the realization that it had been passed on to him from Carl's lips.
The poor baby spent six weeks on life support, and then tragically died of organ failure at the age of 2 months.
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All because his father did what he was supposed to do — love his child and give him oodles of kisses without any sort of hesitation.
As a mother who has kissed my own child straight from birth more times than I can count, I can't even begin to imagine the heartbreak these poor parents felt knowing something so innocent and sweet took the life of their baby boy.
The child's mother, Marrie-Claire McCormick, says upon hearing the diagnosis, "Carl just broke down. He was totally distraught and kept saying he blamed himself. But I never once blamed Carl. All he had ever done was shower our baby with love and affection. He had been the perfect father. I hated seeing him punish himself."
Wow. What an amazing woman. Not every mom would be able to treat her husband with that level of respect and offer forgiveness — even if she knew wholeheartedly that he'd never do anything to harm their child. It would just be so hard to look at your husband every single day knowing something as simple as his kiss is what took your child's life. And I'm guessing it's tough to think about anything else at times. Marrie-Claire is clearly an incredible woman — and she and Carl will definitely make wonderful parents.
Yes, she's pregnant again. She and Carl will welcome a baby girl next month. And even though she's overjoyed, she says, "She is our reason to live again. But I will never get over losing my son Kaiden."
But hopefully once they hold their new baby girl in their arms, they'll feel a small sense of peace and will start to heal. Nothing will ever replace the baby boy they lost, but these amazing people obviously have plenty of love to give.
Would you ever dream that something like this could happen?
Image via Jason Pratt/Flickr
