Compatible with life: the joy of John Paul Hauser

What does it mean for a baby to be “incompatible with life?” Even before a baby is born, doctors are doing tests, reviewing ultrasounds, and monitoring the mother closely for unexpected results or problems. If the unborn baby has too serious a condition, parents might be told by doctors that their baby is “incompatible with life.” That’s to say, it’s not expected to live long, if at all, and parents can face a choice of life or death for this person they’ve not yet met.

After doctors identified Trisomy 13 in John Paul Hauser, his parents were coached to consider having an abortion. Despite having this major genetic corruption, and a life that might last for minutes if at all, John Paul's parents chose to give him that life. And live he did.

/// Faith Full is a Catholic podcast hosted by Tony Ganzer. This episode features Tami and Tracy Hauser, and Barb Baxter, the parents and godmother of John Paul Hauser.

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The reflection of John Paul Hauser's joy still radiates from cherished family videos. In one clip, he's sitting on his mom's lap as she claps his hands in tune with "The Hokey Pokey." "The Hokey Pokey" is one of those universal songs to get kids moving, and be silly and joyful. John Paul’s condition meant he experienced the hokey pokey and so many things differently than most kids, but he still enjoyed them. He didn’t speak, but he communicated in his own way. He played. He enjoyed music—Schubert’s Ave Maria was a favorite.

It’s important we start with some details of John Paul Hauser the person, because there was a chance we would never have met him. Tami and her husband Tracy made the choice to give John Paul a chance to live, even though he would face great difficulty.

"They noticed some some things looked abnormal on the ultrasound and then they sent us in for more testing," Tami says. "They told us that he had this condition called Trisomy 13, which is a corruption of all the chromosomes, and it's the most severe corruption, and that they considered it "incompatible with life." They told us that he wasn't probably going to make it to birth and if he did he would most likely only live like a few minutes or maybe at best a few hours after birth." Tami and Tracy faced this news with shock, devastation, and fear. 

"The very next thing out of their mouth is that we should have an abortion. I just remember like thinking, I just I couldn't believe that they were telling us to have, they were coaching us to have an abortion. I was always like, I didn't realize it went like this. I just thought people left these appointments and then discerned and decided to have an abortion, but here were just being advised ... and more than once," Tami continues. "Finally we just said this baby is not going to die at our hands and you know for us it just wasn't even a decision, like it was just like no. This is…that we would never end our child's life."