Fresno woman in coma gives birth to baby boy

A Fresno woman who has been in a coma since March gave birth Thursday to a baby boy.

Melissa Carleton and her husband, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputy Brian Lande, were thrilled when they found out in October that they were expecting their first child.

Lande was preparing to return to the Sheriff’s Office after recovering from a wrist injury he’d received when his wife began experiencing crippling headaches.

Her doctors ordered an MRI and determined Melissa had a brain tumor. While undergoing treatment, she had a seizure and slipped into a coma.

Central Coast News reporter Cassandra Arsenault spoke with Lande in March from the San Francisco hospital where his wife is being treated.

“I am really hurting right now an enormous amount, and I’m having to deal with that…while fighting for and making sure our baby comes healthy,” Lande said then.

Family members, friends and fellow law enforcement officers have been working to help Lande with the quickly increasing medical bills, setting up pages through Go Fund Me and Facebook to help build awareness.

Thursday, doctors delivered the couple’s baby boy through C-section, according to her family.