Last month Karla Perez gave birth to a stable baby boy called Angel.
Two days after her son was born she died.
The "vibrant" 22-year-old mother had struggled with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis from a young age.
Doctors warned her that she wouldn't be able to have children but she gave birth to her first child, a daughter, without any issues three years ago.
Karla and her partner wanted another baby so she stopped taking her medication for the condition in a bid to get pregnant.
She was successful and fell pregnant but at 22 weeks she collapsed in her home after suffering a brain haemorrhage.
The doctors at Methodist Health System in Nebraska faced the tricky task of trying to keep Karla alive long enough for her baby to survive and be delivered safely.
The staff looked at medical records and found that since 1982 there have only been 33 cases of pregnant brain dead women being kept alive to deliver their babies.
The last case was in the US in 1999.
She was kept on life support for nearly two months until doctors could perform a Caesarean section and deliver baby Angel.
Sue Korth, vice president of Methodist Women's Hospital, which delivered the child, told the New York Daily News: "Our team took a giant leap of faith."
“Angel’s first cry was bittersweet – it meant he was alive, but Karla was gone,” the hospital said.
But Karla’s legacy will live on in many ways.
Not only in her two beautiful children, but she also donated her liver, kidneys and heart to those in need.
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