'My Baby Will Save Thousands Of Lives'

When Rachael Casella’s daughter Mackenzie was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at 10 weeks old, she and her husband began a campaign to spare other families from the nightmare they endured

Like most brides, I spent a lot of time planning for my big day. But in the run-up to my wedding I had something else on my mind too – getting pregnant. I couldn’t wait to marry Jonny and start a family. We began trying for a baby on our honeymoon. Yes, we were that keen.

I got pregnant two months after the wedding, but sadly I had a miscarriage at six weeks. We named the baby Hope because, as devastated as we were, we knew that we’d passed the first hurdle: we could get pregnant. Mackenzie was conceived the very next month.

It was a dream pregnancy. I loved carrying Mackenzie and couldn’t wait to meet her. I made sure that I did my bit to give her the best start possible, following the doctors’ advice to the letter. We took all the tests available and paid extra for the “Harmony test” (also known as Non-invasive Prenatal Testing – it assesses blood from the mother to look at the baby’s DNA), which shows more conclusively if there are any chromosomal abnormalities. So we thought we were prepared for anything.

At 39 weeks I noticed that Mackenzie wasn’t moving around as much as normal, so just to be safe, I was induced. It was a difficult labour, but on March 11, 2017, Mackenzie arrived via emergency C-section. Jonny took photos as Mackenzie was being born. She was wrapped up and whisked away for standard checks. And then she was brought to me and placed across my chest. I looked at her beautiful little face and fell in love. She was utterly perfect. Jonny took eight weeks off work and the three of us took our time getting to know each other. We were in a little bubble, content and happy.