*In a heartbreaking turn of events, Adriana Smith, a 31-year-old nurse from metro Atlanta, delivered her son, Chance, prematurely via C-section while being declared brain dead.
The newborn, weighing only 1 pound 13 ounces, is now fighting for survival in the neonatal intensive care unit. Smith’s family, grappling with profound loss, prepared to say their final goodbyes as she was scheduled to be removed from life support on June 17, Ice Cream Convos reports.
Chance’s grandmother, April Newkirk, shared the family’s hope for the infant’s recovery, telling local news outlet 11Alive, “He’s expected to be OK. He’s just fighting. We just want prayers for him.”
Newkirk also expressed the unbearable pain of losing her daughter, stating, “It’s hard to process. I’m her mother. I shouldn’t be burying my daughter. My daughter should be burying me.”
For over three months, Smith’s family endured what Newkirk described as “torture,” watching Adriana sustained by machines. Legal constraints prevented doctors from discontinuing life support earlier, as the fetus had not yet reached viability.
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“She’s been breathing through machines for more than 90 days. It’s torture for me. I see my daughter breathing, on a ventilator but she’s not there. And I’m touching her. And her son – I bring him to see her,” Newkirk recounted to 11Alive.
The day before Smith was taken off life support, Newkirk voiced her frustration with the medical system, saying, “The same field that she worked in is the same people who failed her.”
Hours before the procedure, she reflected on the lost opportunities for connection, lamenting that Smith’s two sons, including Chance, could not experience moments like skin-to-skin contact with their mother. “Lay on her chest, you know, skin to skin,” she said. “That’s not possible.”
Smith was declared brain‑dead in February after undiagnosed blood clots caused a catastrophic collapse. Because she was nine weeks pregnant, doctors told her family that Georgia’s 2019 “heartbeat” law, enforced after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, required them to keep her on life support until the fetus reaches viability.
NEW: Adriana Smith’s family shared this with us today. They show her final moments on life support, and a tragic goodbye with her son Chase.
Smith was pregnant but past Georgia’s six week limit on abortions when she was declared brain dead. Dr’s delivered her baby on Friday pic.twitter.com/OdbBpNTtVx
— Doug Reardon (@ReardonReports) June 17, 2025
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