AMY PEIRSE AND BABY ADA

Amy and her partner Carl have raised £7,255 in memory of their baby girl, Ada by doing the Boxing Day Dip in Redcar.

Last July at 41 weeks’ pregnant, Amy, who is a beauty therapist, developed HELLP syndrome which is a rare lifethreatening pregnancy complication.

HELLP occurs in less than 1% of all pregnancies and stands for haemolysis (H), elevated liver enzymes (EL), low platelet count (LP).

Her condition rapidly deteriorated and she was rushed into surgery at James Cook Hospital, where Ada was born sleeping by caesarean section.

After delivering Ada, surgeons worked to save Amy’s life after her liver had haemorrhaged and then ruptured, resulting in her losing five litres of blood.

Further life-threatening complications followed and in total Amy spent six weeks in hospital.

But despite their ordeal and Amy’s ongoing recovery, she and Carl were determined to raise funds, knowing a new maternity bereavement suite was being built in the hospital.

Amy said: “Going forward, we want to keep doing fundraising because there were that many people involved in my care, as well as the maternity bereavement team and everything they do.

“We might look to do something once a year, whatever it might be.”

Amy said fundraising helped her, Carl and their family and friends, by giving them a focus.

“Christmas was always going to be a hard time, so knowing we had that the day after changed our focus to doing something good,” she said.

“It helped me get through it a little bit.”

Amy said that going through such a traumatic ordeal opened up a “whole other world”.

“Everything the hospital staff do for you – you would never know unless you’d been through something like that,” she said.

“You have no idea.”

Speaking of the need for a maternity bereavement suite, she added: “I know firsthand how important it is that they have that room in place – the facilities to be able to spend time with your baby.

“I was so poorly. I wish I could have put Ada in a pram and pushed her around a room and took a picture of her in a pram.

“When they asked me if I had any ideas for this room, I mentioned this and they are talking about buying a pram in memory of Ada.”

Carl is now talking about doing the Three Peaks Challenge but Amy requires more time to get back up to full fitness.

“I’ve been going to the gym and swimming trying to get my fitness back and my strength,” she said.

Speaking of going back to her job at Podology, in Saltburn, where staff joined in the Boxing Day dip and clients donated £750, she said: “Most clients are regulars and I know them quite well. I feel lucky to work in a place where I feel comfortable to go back.”