Poppy Faith Shaver Speaks Born August 12th, 2025
Our Story
Katie was 11 weeks pregnant with our second daughter, Poppy Faith, when our sweet midwife called and told her that our test had come back positive for trisomy 18. Just like that, our lives were changed forever.
The doctor’s told us that our time with Poppy was to be short at best. Uncertainty and searching for peace amidst vast unknown quickly became our new normal. However, of this we have always been certain – our precious daughter, Poppy Faith, would be healed. We praise God for this truth. Whether He chose to do so in our arms or His, we entrusted completely to Him.
In the days that followed, we prayed. Family prayed, friends prayed, our ever faithful church prayed for a miracle that would heal our little girl. However as our pregnancy continued to unfold, so did the multiple rounds of devastating news we were to receive, ultrasound after ultrasound. Poppy was extremely small for her gestational age with several signs of trisomy 18. In addition, her diaphragm had not formed, which caused a list of developmental issues, most devastating of which being that her lungs were not able to form.
At first, the doctors told us that she wouldn’t live beyond 24 weeks gestation. However the days continued to pass by, and despite everything stacked against her, our little Poppy continued to grow. We scheduled a C section for 36 weeks in hopes of meeting our sweet daughter, even if just for a few moments.
In her short time on this earth, the Lord has worked through Poppy in truly powerful ways. She has touched the lives of so many, especially ours, and Poppy continues to speak. Through our precious girl, God has shown us that He is so faithful, and means it when He tells us that He is near to the brokenhearted and His peace transcends all understanding. Through our season with Poppy, He has shown us time and time again that when we call on Him to be near, He comes, every single time. At every doctor’s appointment, through every prayer-bathed decision, every time we felt her kick, in every breath we took – God invited us to believe and trust more deeply in Him by giving us a front row seat to His hand at work, all through our precious Poppy Faith.
Sweet Poppy was born on August 12th, weighing 3 pounds and 10 ounces. After almost four incredibly peaceful hours, surrounded by her family and insurmountable love, she took her last breath in Katie’s arms and went to walk with Jesus.
Honoring Poppy Faith
As we move forward in our love for Poppy and memory of her, we wanted to invite you to be a part of our daughter’s ongoing legacy and story by considering a charitable donation in her honor to Abel Speaks, so that other families faced with circumstances like ours may reap the eternally impacting benefits of love and support that they have poured over us during this season. We wanted to share just a small snapshot into the care and blessing the team at Abel Speaks has shown our family.
We were still reeling in the grief of receiving Poppy’s diagnosis when we received our first email from Abel Speaks. We still remember the seed of hope that was planted in our hearts that day, from complete strangers speaking of our daughter’s life with gratitude and as something to be cherished. Since then, they have connected us with mentors who have been where we are with their own babies, in addition to other couples who were currently walking through a situation like ours. They connected us with a local photographer who gifted us maternity photos to capture our precious time as a family of four with Poppy. They provided us with incredibly helpful books as we continued to process everything, even one just for Poppy’s big sister, Maddie. They gifted us clay molds to capture the prints of Poppy’s hands and feet after she was born. They sent a beautiful engraved maple box, filled with precious keepsakes including a Bible with Poppy’s name engraved on the cover. Above all, they joined us in the deepest depth of our grief and helped us see that through Jesus, hope lives there too. Beauty and joy and celebration of this precious life gifted to us, live there too. “Support changes stories” is their vision statement, and my goodness, have they ever proven that to be true for us. We are so grateful.
We’ve set our fundraising goal at $2500, as that is the cost to fully fund an Abel Speaks family. Whatever gift, big or small, we cannot thank you enough for your prayers, generosity and care.
With Love,
Ty and Katie
With love,
Ty and Katie Shaver
SUPPORT ABEL SPEAKS IN HONOR OF POPPY FAITH SHAVER
Your generous giving allows Abel Speaks to support families like ours. Thank you for your partnership as we seek to ensure that every family will cherish their child’s life and have hope in the midst of sorrow!
Abel Speaks is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and all donations are tax-deductible.
2001 W Plano Pkwy, Suite 3405 Plano, TX 75075
(972) 688-6405