In 2020, when Brooklyn and Adam Thompson from Maryville, Mo. were expecting their first baby, there were complications. The couple learned they each carry a recessive gene for Walker-Warburg syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. Chances were 1 in 100,000. The couple knew the outcome: It’s progressive and terminal. 

Baylor, born June 11, 2020, never left Children’s Mercy hospital in Kansas City, Mo. She lived for 5 months. Shortly after, Brooklyn’s father also died. As she says, “We were alone, in COVID.” Family and friends wanted to visit, but still, she says, “you come home to an empty house.” 

There was judgment, too. They were young, not married and grieving. They buried their first child while carrying their second. A couple's future children have a 25 percent chance of having the same syndrome. Brooklyn says that public perception can be hard when you lose a child and have another child, even if you know in your heart, you’re not replacing them. Brooklyn and Adam married in 2022 and welcomed their youngest son, Brim, in 2024. 

People ask them how they did it. “We didn’t have a choice,” Brooklyn says.

Today, Brooklyn has multiple roles. She works at Maryville Parks and Recreation, runs an embroidery business and raises sheep with her husband. She is always a mom. Brooklyn also writes. “I wish I’d kept a journal during that time,” she says. Every day she focuses on gratitude and becoming a better mom. “I just want to celebrate her life.”