Update, 3:09 P.M.: Baby Shane passed away at 6:15 a.m. on Thursday. The Haley family posted this message on their Facebook page:
“Today at 6:15 a.m., after meeting his entire family and being baptized into the Catholic faith, baby Shane died peacefully in his mother’s arms. We are so grateful for the time that we were blessed to hold and hug our son. The support and prayers we have received from all of you have been amazing, and we want to thank each of you with all our hearts.”
Update: Shane Haley was born Thursday, Oct. 9, at 2:25 a.m. Doctors expect him to die within hours or days. He has anencephaly and was born without parts of his brain and skull.
His parents, Jenna and Dan Haley of Pennsylvania, knew Shane was expected to live a short life, but they refused to let his limited time out of the womb affect memory-making with their son. They created a lifetime’s worth of must-see activities into one list, and were determined to finish it in nine months.
“Most families wait until their baby is born to start making memories and traveling to places with them,” Dan told WPVI-TV. “We understood what it was and knew that our time with our son could be very limited, so we wanted to make the most of the time that we had with him.”
Jenna, Dan and Baby Shane conquered the list with more than a month to spare.
Thanks to a Facebook page, ‘Prayers for Shane,’ more than 693,106 people followed the Haley family along their adventures.
On April 10, 2014 Shane was diagnosed with a terminal neural tube defect called anencephaly. This occurs roughly in every 1 out of 5,500 pregnancies. The life expectancy of infants with anencephaly ranges from hours to days, with a few cases where children have survived more than a year. We are asking for your prayers and support and that God grants us as much time as possible with our beautiful son. Shane has already proven to us that each day must be lived to the fullest and that is exactly what our little family is doing. Follow us through our various adventures as we take Shane to some of our favorite childhood places :)
This is the cover art for the “Prayers for Shane” page:
We have the 30-item bucket list and the some of the heartwarming photo memories here:
Shane’s Bucket List
Cape May County Park Zoo in Cape May, N.J.
Philadelphia Zoo
Adventure Aquarium in Camden, N.J.
9/11 memorial in New York City
Statue of Liberty
Empire State Building
Times Square
Central Park Strasburg Rail Road near Lancaster, Pa.
Beach in Wildwood, N.J.
Beach in Cape May, N.J.
Rehoboth Beach in Delaware
Dewey Beach in Delaware
Phillies game
Philadelphia Flyers game
Meet the Phillies
Meet Flyers (including Claude Giroux)
Dad’s Delco league baseball games (championship)
Ocean City, Md. boardwalk and games (old time photo)
Rides at the pier in Wildwood, N.J. (including Ferris wheel)
Shrine of St. John Neumann in Philadelphia
Shrine at St. Rita church in Philadelphia
Geno’s Steaks in Philadelphia
Spruce Street Harbor Park in Philadelphia
Zac Brown Band concert
Linvilla Orchards in Media, Pa.
Uncle Jim’s baseball game at Penn State
Ashbridge Memorial Park in Bryn Mawr, Pa.
Cape May Lewes Ferry in Lewes, Del.
Franklin Institute in Philadelphia
All photos from Prayers for Shane Facebook page.
*This story was updated Oct. 9 to reflect the birth and death of Shane Haley.