By A.S. Kinsman

For all of the fathers or husbands out there, it’s a nightmare. The thought of

the unimaginable happening is an all-too-real possibility. For anyone, it can

happen in a second, without any warning:

A massive blood leak in the brain.

This is what caused 32-year-old Robyn Benson’s brain death at the end

of December 2013. But even in the cold stillness of death… there was life.

Robyn was 22 weeks pregnant.

Robyn’s husband, 32-year-old Dylan Benson, immediately decided to

keep his wife’s body on life support.

“The thought process behind this is that if they can keep her body alive

and growing our child until she is 26 weeks pregnant, it will give our unborn

son a 60 to 80% chance of surviving a C-section at that time,” Benson wrote

on a blog.

The story comes just one week after a Texas father obtained a judge’s

order that forced hospital staff to remove life support from his 33-year-old

wife who had been pronounced “brain dead.” When her life support was

removed she was carrying their 22-week-old baby. Advocates fighting for the

baby’s life called the move an “execution by judicial tyranny.”

Dylan has received a global outpouring of support for his controversial

but understandable decision to keep his wife’s body alive so that their

unborn son may continue to grow and have a chance at life. People all

around the world, in countries including Africa, Spain, Brazil, Australia, India,

and Iceland, have all contributed support, even sending donations to the

newly single father.

“Now this is a real man! This is what a father is supposed to do! Mr.

Benson is a real-life hero. This man is doing what all fathers are called to do:

protect their children,” wrote one online commenter.

Benson has taken leave from work to be with his wife and unborn child

around the clock.

Benson’s fundraising campaign to cover expenses during his absence

from work has now reached $125,000, vastly surpassing his goal of $36,000.

Not only do people Dylan has never met support him. “Her family and

my friends are all very supportive and all think that my wife would want me

to try and give our child the best life possible, so that’s what I’m going to try

and do, assuming that all goes well and I actually get to meet him.”

Still, many people remain critical of Dylan Benson’s choice to keep

Robyn’s body alive and her heart beating while on life support. Many find it

“repulsive” that a husband could keep his dead wife alive, some even

thinking of Robyn’s body as an animated corpse. Many believe it to be

downright wrong. This was seen in the recent case of the father in Texas who

received judicial permission to terminate life support of his wife, who, like

Robyn Benson, was considerably far along in her pregnancy. Critics of the

“brain dead” criteria for establishing death say the fact that a pregnant woman can continue nourishing a child in her womb explodes the whole

theory. In the case of the Texas mother, Operation Rescue President Troy

Newman said: “The public has been given the erroneous impression that

Marlise is a dead and decaying corpse. Marlise’s heart continues to beat and

she continues to nourish her pre-born baby. A rotting corpse cannot do that.”

Which is exactly why Dylan has chosen to keep his wife alive until his

son’s birthday.

Benson said, the “toughest part” is knowing that the day his son is

born is also the day he will have to say goodbye to his wife.

An ultrasound last week showed that the baby is growing and

developing well. Not only is the child healthy, he has also received his

name, Iver Cohen Benson.

As online commenter Michelle Tena so poignantly put:

“God bless this father. We need more men like this in the world today.

Such heartbreak but there is hope and a future.”