Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

In May 2018, 7 months after major surgery to remove a cancerous ovarian tumour, I found out I was pregnant. Unfortunately at the 1st scan scan, we were told that the baby had no heartbeat and had passed away around 12 weeks.

Fast forward to October that year and were amazed to find out we were pregnant again! We were overjoyed, although a little nervous due to what had happened previously, so we were thrilled when our early scans were fine. Unfortunately I started to feel quite unwell in the 2nd trimester and by week 18/19 I’d become seriously poorly. We went to hospital where they broke the devastating news that they suspected I had something called a ‘partial molar pregnancy’ and that the baby was not going to survive. I also had severe pre-eclampsia, which meant that I had to have immediate treatment to stabilise my condition as things were becoming very serious for my health at that point. Our baby passed away that evening. We were heartbroken.
I was rushed by ambulance to St Mary’s hospital in Manchester for more specialised care. On the 7th February 2019, our beautiful little boy Isaac James was born sleeping at 19 weeks. He was so small, but so perfect.

After a week spent in hospital, I was discharged but then had to receive follow up care through a hospital in Sheffield- one of only 3 hospitals in the country that deal with partial molar pregnancies. These types of pregnancies are very rare and are where the placenta grows into a cluster of cysts which sometimes continue to release Bhcg (pregnancy hormone). Most women need to be regularly monitored after pregnancy to ensure their hormone levels fall to negative, but in 15% of molar pregnancies the hormone levels will plateau or rise. These behave like cancer, and the patient will require chemotherapy. Fortunately my levels dropped quickly and I did not need chemotherapy. I was given the all clear to try again.

A few months later we found out I was pregnant again! I had lots of early scans to monitor the baby but we were shocked and devastated for a third time in October 19 at 15 weeks when we found out that not only had the baby died but they suspected it was ANOTHER partial molar- we couldn’t believe our bad luck. I had to birth our baby again and go through more follow up care.

As you can imagine, we were terrified of trying again in fear of everything going wrong again, so we decided to look into the idea of IVF instead in the hope that it would give us a better chance of it going right! We had an initial appointment and then shortly afterwards we went into lockdown! It meant that any future appointments were delayed and we were left wondering whether it was going to happen at all for us. We decided we would try once more and were delighted but scared when we fell pregnant for a 4th time in mid 2020!

We were referred by our bereavement team to Professor Alex Heazell at the Rainbow Clinic at St Mary’s in Manchester- a clinic which provides specialist care for women who have suffered a previous stillbirth or neonatal death. We were monitored throughout the pregnancy with scans every 3 weeks. It was the most nerve racking time and I would be close to panic attacks at every scan. But our little miracle made it and I gave birth to the most beautiful little girl Elsie, on 22nd March 2021.

The support and care that we received during the pregnancy at St Mary’s and the Rainbow clinic was truly outstanding and we could not have got through it without them. You can read more about the work they do here: 

The Rainbow Clinic

We would like to give something back to the Rainbow Clinic as they played such a massive part in helping us; I am running the Manchester 10k on May 22nd to support them so that they can continue the amazing work that they do.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
Thank you so much for your kindness xx