Family Life

Wife gives birth to her first child - two years after her husband passed away

In December 2014, New York police officer Wenjian Liu was shot and killed while in the line of duty.

Wenjian was just 32 years old when he passed away and his wife, Pei Xia Chen, also know as Sanny, was left heartbroken at the loss of her “best friend”.

However, happiness has returned to the family after Sanny recently gave birth to a little girl – more than two years after her husband was killed.

 

#NYPD Angel Sanny Liu, the widow of Detective First Grade WenJian Liu, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, named Angelina, on July 25, 2017. Detective Liu’s parents, Wei Tang Liu and Xiu Yan Li, also gathered at Weill Cornell Hospital to celebrate the birth of their granddaughter. Through the miracle of modern science, Sanny was able to give birth to her late husband’s baby, nearly two years after his death. Detective Liu and Sanny had always planned on having children, but their plans were tragically disrupted on December 20, 2014, when Detective Liu was killed in the line of duty. ​Remarkably, Sanny never doubted, from the start of this journey, that she would be having a daughter. The night of the incident, she requested that her husband’s semen be preserved, so that she might, one day, have his child. The night after Detective Liu passed away, she had a dream, in which he handed her a baby girl. “I got pregnant through the [in-vitro fertilization] procedure,” said Sanny, “and I told my friend, ‘It’s going to be a baby girl.’ My friend said, ‘No, you haven’t even checked the sonograms,’ but I was right!” Sure enough, Sanny was right, and her dreams were answered. Now, Detective Liu’s legacy can live on through his daughter. And as far as Detective Liu’s legacy goes, Sanny can’t wait to tell Angelina that her father was a hero. She is also eager to introduce her daughter to the New York City Police Department that she lovingly refers to as her “big blue family.”

A post shared by NYPD (@nypd) on

On the night that he passed away, Chen asked doctors to preserve her husband’s semen in the hopes of being able to have his baby – and on July 25th, Sanny gave birth to her first child.

Sharing the gorgeous picture of the mother and daughter on the NYPD Instagram page, the department wrote:

“Through the miracle of modern science, Sanny was able to give birth to her late husband’s baby, nearly two years after his death.

“Detective Liu and Sanny had always planned on having children, but their plans were tragically disrupted on December 20, 2014, when Detective Liu was killed in the line of duty.

“​Remarkably, Sanny never doubted, from the start of this journey, that she would be having a daughter.”

And she did welcome a little girl: baby Angelina.

“The night after Detective Liu passed away, she had a dream, in which he handed her a baby girl,” the post explains.

“Now, Detective Liu’s legacy can live on through his daughter. And as far as Detective Liu’s legacy goes, Sanny can’t wait to tell Angelina that her father was a hero.

"She is also eager to introduce her daughter to the New York City Police Department that she lovingly refers to as her “big blue family.”

This is such a beautiful post; happiness in what we are sure has been an incredibly difficult time for the family. 

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