On April 20, 1977, my brother's wife, Janice, died as a result of complications from childbirth.
The baby, their only son, also died unnamed. This is a photo of my brother and Janice
on their wedding day, in 1961.
Her death was unnecessary. The doctors begged all of us to let her have blood. Of course, we all refused.
An artery in her uterus had ruptured during birth, and she was bleeding out very fast.
They did an emergency hysterectomy, but she died anyway, 8 hours later.
This was the beginning of the end, for our family as Jehovah's witnesses. My brother and his daughters
were the first to quit, in 1978. The girls were 13 and 15 when their mother died.
Now they are 38 and 40. Neither girl ever had children, although I think they would like to have
had them. They both love kids, and are great "aunties" to all of their cousins kids. If it weren't
for Jehovah's witnesses, those young women would have their mother, and my brother, their father,
would have had a much more settled life. He married again, too fast, and divorced within a year,
and has gone from one relationship to another, and he is very unstable emotionally.
He never got over losing her the way he did.
It was years later before the rest of us would leave the organization, but we will never
get over the sensless death of Janice and her baby.
Marilyn (aka Mulan)
