The past eight and a half months were some of the happiest for Sybil McFall.
The artist who loved knitting, quilting and embroidery was pregnant with her first child. She had worked in retail management for some time, but stepped down to prepare for motherhood, and possibly, seriously pursue her art.
"Everything was going to be great," said Joe McFall, her husband from Atlanta. "It was the happiest she'd ever been. She would be a full-time mom at home and do art, but it never got to go where she wanted it to go."
On St. Patrick's Day, Sybil Elizabeth McFall started experiencing back pain and nausea and was transported to Emory University Hospital-Midtown. Doctors haven't said for sure, but at some point the Atlantan had a stroke, which caused a brain hemorrhage. She lost consciousness and doctors had to perform an emergency C-section to save the baby. The infant, Jack McFall, survived and remains hospitalized.
His mother had been in a coma since giving birth, but on Wednesday she was taken off of life support. She was 37. A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Spring Hill chapel of H.M. Patterson & Son, which is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. McFall was born in Syracuse, N.Y., and earned a bachelor's degree in studio art from the College of Wooster in Ohio. In 2003, she moved to Athens to earn a master's degree in fabric arts from the University of Georgia.
In mid-2000, she met her future husband, who was a UGA graduate student in the linguistics program. The couple dated four years and married nearly two years ago.
"They'd both dated some interesting people, so her mother and I were so glad they found each other," said Ann McFall, a mother-in-law from Volusia County, Fla.
The expectant mother didn't drink or smoke and ate mostly vegetarian dishes. She and her husband jogged regularly. She became even more health conscious during her pregnancy. Her due date was April 4.
"It's been an awful week for us," said Bob McFall, the father-in-law. "My son, along with her parents, donated her organs, and we found out that an 11-year-old within a couple of weeks of death had received her heart. That was comforting."
Jack McFall, the new addition, continues to recover in the neonatal intensive care unit at Emory University Hospital-Midtown.
"All the nurses are falling in love," said Joe McFall, the father. "He's a good little baby."
Additional survivors include her mother, Madelyn Smith of Syracuse, N.Y., her father, Dr. Philip Smith of Augusta; and a brother, Gavin Smith of Brooklyn, N.Y.
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