“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die– but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5).
This weekend, we celebrate how Jesus died so that we might live. Here’s the powerful story of a Christian woman here on Oahu who made a similar choice. Sharnell Onaga learned she had leukemia when she was nine weeks pregnant. Her doctors advised her to terminate her pregnancy and begin treatment. Instead, she refused to undergo chemotherapy so that her unborn child could live. After giving birth to her baby Sarah on December 4th, Sharnell died this week.
“Sarah is 4 months old and just doing wonderfully. She’s in perfect health and obviously a very special baby,” Onaga family friend Cissy Boyer said.
Onaga hoped for a cord blood transplant, but developed an infection.
“Up to the very end we were all very hopefully, and up to the last breath we were praying for a miracle — literally that she would be restored and come back. We, really, as a family and friends, wanted her to be here with us, especially because of the type of person she was, but that wasn’t God’s plan for her,” Boyer said.