Baby born safely to brain-dead woman

Organs from the boy's mother, Sarah Fay, are to be donated

A healthy baby boy was delivered by Caesarean section from the Big Island woman who was declared brain dead after her boyfriend allegedly beat her, the Queen's Medical Center announced yesterday.

Doctors delivered Josiah Darcy Fay at 10:50 a.m. yesterday. He is 3 pounds, 5 ounces and 16 1/2 inches long.

He is breathing on his own with some assistance, Queen's spokeswoman Kara Hughes said. Josiah was transported to Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children and is expected to stay there for three weeks.

After Josiah was delivered, doctors removed Sarah Fay's liver and two kidneys. Three people were to receive her organs, Hughes said.

An autopsy was performed on Fay yesterday at the city Department of the Medical Examiner. The cause of death was determined to be intracranial injury. The manner of death was classified as a homicide.

Fay, 34, of Mountain View, Big Island, was to be cremated. Her ashes will be taken to Oregon, where her mother, Frances Fay, and sister, Stacey Fay, reside. Fay's family members plan to take Josiah to Oregon, where they will care for him, Hughes said.

Fay was kept on life support to preserve Josiah's life. Doctors waited until yesterday, marking the eighth month of her pregnancy, to deliver Josiah. Waiting gave him a higher chance of survival.

Fay also has a 10-year-old son, Adahy, and 7-year-old daughter, Wahylia, from a previous relationship.

The two children were placed under temporary foster custody following the Nov. 25 incident. They are no longer under Child Protective Services, said Derick Dahilig, spokesman for the state Department of Human Services. Their father was seeking custody.

Marwan Jackson, 24, accused of beating Fay, was charged with murder, sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery and violation of a protective order. Jackson's criminal history includes felony offenses, one for dragging a police officer with his car.

In May, Fay obtained a temporary restraining order against Jackson. The day after Thanksgiving, she was found unconscious at a Fern Acres subdivision home -- with head and bodily injuries.

Fay graduated from Champaign Central High School in Illinois in 1989. She went to Illinois State University for a year, then to Parkland College. Later, she transferred to the University of Illinois School of Social Work and dropped out in her junior year.

She arrived in Hawaii about 11 to 12 years ago after years of living what her mother joked was a "hippie-dippy" lifestyle that included following the Grateful Dead around the country.

"Sarah lived a very natural life. Her kids were all born at home with midwives. She was healthy, free-spirited, really cheery and very social," Frances Fay said last week.

"She got involved on the hippie-dippy path and wound up in Hawaii. She loved it. She went to Hawaiian ceremonies; she swam with the dolphins all the time. She loved playing African drums. She's a real free spirit," she added.

Services for Fay are expected to be held this spring in Champaign, Ill.

The Sarah Fay Memorial Fund was established for her three children. Donations may be sent to P.O. Box 70696, Eugene, OR 97401.