Patricia and Kimberly O'Neill know all too well that the road to having a child isn't always smooth. It took them four years, three miscarriages, and 1,616 IVF shots to conceive their baby London, and they recently took this powerful photo of their daughter to commemorate the journey.
"Kimberly decided as soon as I started shots that she would save the needles and that we would do a photo at the end of our journey," Patricia told BuzzFeed. "I never anticipated there would be so many needles."
Saving all of them helped the O'Neills turn their painful struggle into a celebration of the miracle of life.
Packer shared the photo on her Facebook page, which has since gone viral. "We want it to bring hope for women that are hopeless in this journey and a voice for women that are afraid to speak of it," Patricia said.
"We both were amazed and teared up when we saw the set up, she added. "We were overwhelmed with joy looking at the miraculous completion of our journey in the photo."
Patricia said she hopes the photo also serves as a reminder for people trying to start a family to "cry when they need to, laugh when they can. Sometimes, it’s hard enough to even smile, let alone laugh, but you need to find an outlet."
