The third season of MTV's reality show "Run's House," which begins April 9, will feature a poignant episode.

Rev. Run Simmons, 42, was a founding member and lead vocalist of the '80s rap group Run-DMC and is now a preacher. He and his wife of 12 years, Justine, 43, are parents to five children, ages 10-23. The oldest three are from Run's first marriage.

The reality show centers around family life at their New Jersey home. The cliffhanger ending of season two was Justine's announcement to Rev. Run as cameras rolled that she was pregnant, and their subsequent announcement together to their children through a guessing game of charades.

What viewers will learn in season three is the baby, born Sept. 26, 2006, and named Victoria Anne, died two hours after she was born.

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They will also learn Run and Justine were told midway through her pregnancy the baby had a birth defect, omphalocele, which causes abdominal organs to grow outside the body.

The Simmonses opted not to abort. They also opted not to tell their children before delivery so that real responses and emotions would be filmed.

So viewers will see the Simmons children being brought into the hospital room and told on camera by Justine that their sister has died.

I probably would have let a moment like Rev. Run's remain private, but God works through people in mysterious ways. While the Simmons' story is dramatic and heartbreaking, it is also beautifully pro-life.

And it is resonating. For the past couple days I have tracked the story on the People website; it has been the No. 1 most read article. And how else would you ever imagine reading a testimony like this on a hip hop website:

"The reason why I even filmed anything about the baby and stuff is that if ya'll laugh with me at the bowling alley with my kids and giggled with me on the basketball court with my kids, since it is a reality show, why wouldn't I let you see how I handled adversity," Rev. Run told AllHipHop.com. "It's also to show you how to be thankful during situations that aren't favorable towards you. Who am I to be resentful to God, to the world, as good as the world has been to Reverend Run? I didn't let that affect me. I'm a very thankful person. Reverend Run will go down as a man who is thankful to God and to the world."

Or this review, on Highbrid Nation's website:

Although I honestly can't stand the show, and that's coming from a Run-DMC junkie, I had a lot of respect for what Rev. Run did. Oftentimes death and sorrow is something that we keep inside, private. We hate to let others see us cry, male or female. This was a show that made me reflect on recent tragedy in my life and made me realize that suffering is worldwide. I envy how the Simmonses chose to deal with the tragedy in their life and thank them for helping me get over mine. SALUTE.

Post-abortive? Not sure.

I have spoken with parents who aborted handicapped babies. They did it to alleviate a few months of their own suffering, so they thought, or to alleviate their own baby's suffering, so they thought. They now are living a lifetime of hell with the knowledge they killed their own handicapped child.

But I have never met parents who regretted carrying their handicapped baby to term, whether that baby lived a few minutes or became a lifelong member of the family. Everybody who cares for such people are better for it.

Between seasons two and three, before he knew of his baby's demise, Rev. Run explained his show's purpose to AOL News:

It's my nature to want to be a dad. It's fun to me. I don't know if it comes this easy to everybody, but it's deeply embedded into me by God. I think that my ministry as far as what I'm doing now – my television show is a family show. I think that's what I'm here for – to be an example in many ways, an instrument for God. He created me as an instrument and as long as I yield, He'll blow His breath through me and I'll be the flute.

Rev. Run and Justine have demonstrated they are the greatest of parents by loving a child many would consider unlovable, inconvenient, or too painful. What a great example to the MTV generation.

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