From the very moment you find out your pregnant you feel as though it’s your responsibility to do everything you can to protect your baby.

You don’t smoke, you don’t drink and you try to exercise all as an effort to make your body the safest place for your baby to be.

Sometimes things happen to your body that are beyond your control. For Athena Krueger that was exactly the case.

Athena was diagnosed with stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma just about the same time she found out she was pregnant. Her daughter Amari was delivered via Caesarean at 32 weeks, a mere 17 weeks after she had started chemotherapy.

Although Amari was born as healthy as can be, it was after her daughter’s birth that Athena discovered her cancer had spread to lung, lymph nodes and brain.

As Amari got older, Athena’s cancer grew worse and it became apparent that she might not get to watch her daughter grow up. Knowing Amari’s first birthday might be the only one she would be alive to see, she and her husband worked to make it extra special.

Three days before Amari’s first birthday Athena left the hospital and headed to her home where her husband, daughter and 300 friends and family members waited.

Athena was able to see her daughter turn one on May 5th and passed away in her husbands arms the next day.

Athena’s husband Ben is counting on the family and friends that celebrated with them that day to help teach Amari all about her mom. This sweet baby girl will have countless memories shared with her over the years about the love her mom had for her, and how she fought to make it to her first birthday.

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