Baby Mackenzie's lasting legacy - Rachael & Jonny CASELLA

When Rachael and Jonny Casella’s baby was diagnosed with a fatal illness, they chose love over loss. Here Rachael tells Juliet Rieden how she turned tragedy into hope.

- Juliet Rieden

Losing a child is the worst thing that can happen to a parent and for Rachael and Jonny Casella it was both devastating and a turning point. Their beautiful daughter, Mackenzie, was seven months and 11 days old when she left this world on October 22, 2017. But even though her body failed her, baby Mackenzie’s legacy is proving to be immortal.

Rachael believes that Mackenzie chose them to be the guardians of her soul. And despite everything, she says baby “Kenzie” has taught her to be a better person, to choose love over conflict, gratitude over struggle and most of all, to have a perspective that serves her every single day.

Rachael couldn’t protect her baby girl from her fate, but she wants to protect future babies and parents from going through what her family endured. She can foresee a future that is better and fired by profound and precious memories of Kenzie, she has spearheaded a crucial change to the genetic testing protocol, while personally never giving up on her dream of being a mother again. Rachael’s battle for a new genetic test available to all is called Mackenzie’s Mission, which is also the name of the courageous memoir she has poured her heart into.

“I wasn’t really sure how to process everything that was happening with us, and I found myself writing,” Rachael tells me. “It was a cathartic way of getting things out. It evolved into writing Instagram pieces and a blog and the book happened from there. I found I had so much that I wanted to say.”