Millie Smith and Lewis Cann were overjoyed when they learned they were expecting a baby. From the start, Millie had a strong feeling she might be carrying twins—after all, twins ran in her family. Her intuition proved right.
The ultrasound confirmed she was indeed pregnant with twins, but joy quickly turned to heartbreak when doctors discovered that one of the babies had almost no chance of survival.
Their daughters were born prematurely at thirty weeks, and one of them was diagnosed with anencephaly—a severe condition in which the brain and spinal cord fail to develop properly, making survival impossible.
The devastated parents were told that their baby girl might live only a few minutes or hours.
Before saying goodbye, they gave her a name: Skye.
Millie later shared how deeply important it was to name her before birth. She knew Skye’s time on earth would be heartbreakingly short—perhaps only seconds or minutes—but she wanted to make sure her daughter had an identity in that brief life.
She explained that the name “Skye” symbolized a place where they imagined their baby would always be—a reminder that whenever they looked up at the sky, they could think of her.
“Skye left us while she was in our arms. It was the saddest moment we’d ever had. I’ve never experienced such profound sadness before. I am delighted she battled so hard to stay with us as long as she could.”
