What Is Anencephaly? ‘Bucket List Baby’ Shane Haley Dies Hours After Birth

The Pennsylvania parents, who did a bucket list for their terminally ill baby Shane, had to say goodbye to him just hours after meeting him. But before he was born, baby Shane got to see the 9/11 memorial, hang out in Times Square, meet the Philadelphia Phillies and share a cheesesteak with his mom and dad, CNN reported.

Shane was diagnosed in-utero with in the womb with anencephaly, which is a birth defect that results an infant being born without parts of the brain and skull. Almost all babies with anencephaly die shortly after birth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

His parents, Jenna and Dan Haley, were able to make it through the Bucket List before he was born. They shared his Thursday birth on the Facebook page “Prayers for Shane.” He died a few hours later.

"Today at 6:15 a.m., after meeting his entire family and being baptized into the Catholic faith, baby Shane died peacefully in his Mother's arms," the couple wrote in a Facebook post. "We are so grateful for the time that we were blessed to hold and hug our son."

The Philadelphia couple’s story has touched hundreds of thousands of people, who took to Facebook to show their support. The couple posted a slew of photos of the child with him in their arms.

"The support and prayers we have received from all of you have been amazing and we want to thank each of you with all our hearts," the couple said. "Shane spent his entire life in the arms of people that loved him unconditionally and I don't think you could ask for a more beautiful life then that.”

They added: “He is home now with the Lord and will forever be our little miracle!”

The couple found out about their son’s condition in April. The decided to celebrate his life by creating and completing a bucket list while Jenna was pregnant. "He's still our little boy and even though he's been given such a short life expectancy because of anencephaly, we wanted to make sure that we gave him a lifetime worth of adventures and love while he's with us," Dan told ABC News last month, according to Good Morning America.

They hoped their journey, albeit sad, would inspire other people. "One thing we would want people to take away is that each human life is so valuable and that it's important to live each day to its fullest potential," Dan said last month.

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