woman in hospital bed
Sarah Biren
Sarah Biren
June 30, 2022 ·  4 min read

With Pregnant Wife in Coma, Virginia Man Fights to Save Her and Their Baby-to-Be: ‘Miracles Can Happen’

Daniel White and his wife, Pia Reyes, were ecstatic when they realized they were pregnant this past February. However, Pia suffered from a brain hemorrhage at the end of May and ended up in a coma. Daniel is holding out for a miracle to save her and their unborn son. “There’s so many things we’re fighting for and hoping for,” said Daniel, a 42-year-old analyst who works for Virginia’s Fairfax County. “It means the world to us.”

Daniel and Pia Expect Their First Child, Noah

The couple met on Match.com and dated for eight years before getting married on August 8, 2019. They shared a love of concerts, cooking, and golfing. 

She’s the most compassionate person you could ever meet. She never thinks about herself,” Daniel said about Pia, who is also 42 and an analyst for the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank. “She always thinks about other people. She’s just sweet. She literally would do anything for somebody she would meet. Whatever it would take, she would bend over backwards for them just to make them happy.[1]

Daniel White and Pia Reyes at wedding
GoFundMe

When the couple first tried to become pregnant, doctors said they would have to undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF). However, they were ecstatic to realize that Pia became pregnant without any kind of treatment. Their baby boy was due on October 17 and they already decided to name him Noah. And in April, they purchased a house to prepare for the new addition to their family. 

Everything seemed to be going well when the couple took a trip to North Carolina Outer Banks before Memorial Day to visit with Danie’s family for a week. But Pia came down with a headache that Thursday. A common pain reliever helped at first, but then the headache worsened. When Sunday came, the couple had a relaxing day going to mass, and eating pizza while watching golf. Pia went to bed around 9 that night, but 20 to 30 minutes later, she called Daniel because she wasn’t feeling well. 

“She was sweating and running a little bit of a fever,” Daniel said. He brought a bin for her to vomit in and a damp washcloth to cool her off. “She seemed to be fine. Then she threw up a little bit more.”

Read: “I Want to Live to Be 105 to See Him Graduate,” the Story of the Doctor Who Became a Father at 83

Pia Falls into a Coma

Pia fell asleep and for a moment, all seemed well. “Then all of a sudden, her breathing changed,” Daniel recalled. “I tried to wake her up and she wasn’t responsive.” He called 911, who arrived almost immediately. A neighbor who worked as an EMT also came over and tried to resuscitate Pia. At first, Daniel was concerned Pia’s symptoms were from her shellfish allergy but the neighbor didn’t think it was the case. But there was no other explanation at that point.

The ambulance took Pia to the Outer Banks Hospital. The doctors used a CAT scan to diagnose her with a brain hemorrhage. There weren’t any beds available in the ICU so they transferred Pia to a teaching hospital in Greenville, North Carolina. Daniel and his family arrived three hours after Pia got checked in.

Daniel White and Pia Reyes
Image credit: Daniel White | People

 

“They knew at that point she basically had a brain hemorrhage and had inserted a drain into her brain,” he said. She had traumatic injuries to her brain.” The doctors explained that there was a blood clot putting pressure on her brain stem, which resulted in the coma. “Because she was so young, they wanted to give her a chance,” Daniel said. “A chance to survive.

However, the doctors couldn’t perform the operation because of the location of the blood clot. “They want to do everything they can for her,” Daniel said. “But we don’t know how she’ll come out of everything.” Unfortunately, the prognosis looks bleak.If she makes it, her quality of life could be pretty poor, but we don’t really know since it is a brain injury and they’ve done some angiograms, but they can’t really pinpoint any abnormalities, anything that really caused it.”

“If we don’t have hope, we don’t have anything.

In the meantime, the doctors closely monitor the fetus. “We can hear his heartbeat,” Daniel said. “That seems to be strong. So we’re really hopeful, but there’s so many unknowns.” He added, “That might be the spirit of Pia that goes on. So it means the world to me.”

In the meantime, Daniel and his family and friends come together to pray on Zoom every night. He is hoping for a miracle to save his wife and son. “It’s faith really. It’s the ability to think that miracles can happen, but at the same time we’re realistic. If we don’t have hope, we don’t have anything.

He is thankful for all of the help and support people have offered. “It means a lot. My wife’s originally from the Philippines. We’ve had people fly in from all over the world to see her. The outpouring of support has been enormous and it means so much and it makes it so much easier.

The GoFundMe for the White family has far surpassed the goal of $10,000, as over 500 donors contributed a total of over $40,000 so far. On the page, the donors comment messages of hope, prayers, and encouragement to the family. [2]

Keep Reading: Woman saves two girls from alleged kidnapper after getting bad feeling

Sources

  1. “With Pregnant Wife in Coma, Virginia Man Fights to Save Her and Their Baby-to-Be: ‘Miracles Can Happen’.People. Wendy Grossman Kantor. Jun 17, 2022
  2. “Donate to help Pia and Daniel White.GoFundMe. Alex Rivera. Accessed: June 30, 2022