If you looked sad, she would comfort you. “She’d sign it and always add a little kissing sound,” her mother remembers. Seraphina’s favorite sign was “I love you.” “She could get herself around in a power wheelchair like nobody’s business,” Harrell said. She couldn’t walk, but mastered her wheelchair. Seraphina could only speak a few words, but learned American Sign Language. Seraphina had a very, very meaningful and happy life,” Harrell said. And I think without hesitation, the answer to that question is yes, she did.

“What drove the conflict when Crystal was pregnant with her, was whether or not she’d have a meaningful life. She died in the hospital “following a combination of complications from a needed surgery and infection,” according to her obituary. She also had a brain malformation called holoprosencephaly, where the brain fails to completely divide into distinct hemispheres.ĭuring her short life, Seraphina had three heart surgeries and countless other more minor surgical procedures. She had multiple heart defects and two spleens, neither of which worked properly. Many of her internal organs, such as her stomach and liver, were in the wrong place. Seraphina was born with heterotaxy syndrome. “What I heard over and over from so many of her doctors was they could never imagine that someone with Seraphina’s level of need could do as well as she did or be as joyful as she was,” said her mother, Rene Harrell. It could still happen, but it’s less likely,” Brisman said.ĭuring her eight years Seraphina taught those who knew her about living a happy and full life despite physical disabilities. “What happened in this case is less likely to happen today. On the whole, surrogacy agencies and lawyers have become more careful about making sure surrogates and couples agree ahead of time on crucial questions, according to Brisman. The use of gestational carriers almost tripled from 2007 to 2016, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In recent years, the use of surrogates has risen steadily. That’s good for the industry,” Brisman said. “People heard about this case, and they got scared about skipping steps. Seraphina’s case helped change that, said Melissa Brisman, an attorney who specializes in surrogacy. The conflict between Kelley and the couple that hired her drew national attention and marked a turning point for surrogacy.Įight years ago, agencies and lawyers who arranged gestational surrogacies sometimes failed to make sure surrogates and hopeful parents were on the same page about important issues, such as whether or not to terminate a pregnancy if the fetus was found to have abnormalities. Crystal Kelley holds her baby, Seraphina Harrell, in 2012 before Kelley, the baby's surrogate mother, gave the infant up for adoption to the Harrell family of Massachusetts.

Fire Within by Crystal Kelley