The undying hope of one couple’s journey to have a baby has been captured in a moving photograph of their newborn daughter surrounded by the 1,616 needles it took to conceive her.
Patricia and Kimberly O’Neill faced heartbreak after heartbreak as they spent $40,000, made seven desperate attempts and suffered three miscarriages in their four-year bid to have a baby.
But two weeks ago, their pain turned into joy when they welcomed a tiny bundle of joy into the world – a daughter named London O’Neill.
The couple, from the US, have now shared a poignant photograph taken of little London wrapped in a rainbow blanket peacefully dozing.
But what is more heartrending are the hundreds of needles surrounding her in the shape of a heart.
They represent the blood-thinner needles Patricia used twice a day, and the IVF injections she took in her efforts to have a baby.
The photograph has now become a symbol of hope for other parents facing infertility struggles.
"I hope that there’s a couple out there that’s going through what we are that can see that there’s hope at the end of the tunnel," Patricia told CNN .
"There’s a light and you just have to get there."
It took photographer Samantha Packer more than an hour to meticulously lay out the syringes around London.
She told CNN: "The heart symbolized … that this whole painful journey was all to love a child."
Patricia, 30, who also has a seven-year-old daughter from another relationship, added: "My wife saved every single needle that I injected, all capped and plastic seals around them and everything."
The couple, from The Sun City, Arizona, met six years ago at a daycare where they both worked. A year into their relationship they started trying for a baby and in 2017 they got married.
Kimberly, who works at a bank, also has a 14-year-old son from a past relationship. They both decided it should be Patricia who carried their child.
And they admit they thought it would be straight forward but following two rounds of intrauterine insemination, neither were successful.
They began IVF but lost one baby at six weeks and another at eight weeks.
Doctors then discovered Patricia had a blood-clotting condition.
However, a month later she was pregnant with a baby boy. But it ended in more heartache.
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"We saw the heart beat and then we went at 11 weeks and the heartbeat had stopped," Patricia said.
After three miscarriages Patricia was a broken woman and wanted to give up. But the couple persevered and found a new doctor who specialised in Patricia’s blood-clotting condition.
He told her to take two blood thinning injections twice a day, and soon followed their miracle rainbow baby, London.
The photograph of London has since been shared on Facebook more than 61,000 times.
Photographer Samantha told Fox News : "I did not expect the attention.
“I knew it was something special, just not to the whole world.”
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