Just over two years after a Cornish mum almost died from rare complications while giving birth, she is preparing to run the London Marathon to help raise money and awareness about the condition.
It was back in December 2020 that Kat Burton’s first, lockdown pregnancy came to an abrupt end.
Three days earlier she began to feel particularly unwell and she recalls that “things just didn’t seem right.”
Barely able to move, and extremely sick, she was concerned the baby wasn’t moving as much as usual.
One call to the midwife later and she was packing her bags, with a gut feeling that instead of her planned water birth she was facing a long induction.
Little did she know that she would actually be spending 13 nights at Royal Cornwall Hospital and things would be a lot worse than she was imagining.
With her husband Chris unable to enter the hospital due to Covid restrictions, they waited in the freezing car for her to receive her test results, finally receiving them at 1.30am. She had developed pre-eclampsia.
Kat, from Redruth, said: “After a teary goodbye, I headed into the hospital alone and tried to get my head around what was happening.
“The next couple of days played out like millions of induction stories, but unfortunately, my big, stubborn boy wasn't quite ready to enter the frosty winter world.
“After a rough 48 hours, sepsis called time on my efforts and I was rushed in for an emergency c-section.”
Her baby son, Saxon Ray, was born safely – but Kat’s ordeal had barely begun, as things took an even more serious turn.
“The last thing I remember was breastfeeding my baby for the first time whilst they finished up in the theatre, and smiling at Chris as he headed out to phone the family.
“According to the medical team I had an eclamptic seizure, a rare reaction to pre-eclampsia that can happen up to ten days after the birth.
“For half an hour my body fought the seizure until I finally passed slowly into unconsciousness.
“For the next 24 hours, the team tried to figure out what had happened and my poor Chris provided the care for our baby that we had been expecting to be doing together.”
Tests finally diagnosed kidney failure, liver failure and heart failure. She also had a collapsed lung due to the volume of water her body had retained.
“Luckily Saxon was given a clean bill of health and every day I am grateful that he was spared the suffering that can come with this dreaded disease,” said Kat.
They were both finally discharged from the hospital a few days before Christmas, and Kat started the long journey to recovery as well as her life as a new mother.
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“I remember one particular moment when Chris and I sat on the sofa, cuddling our new baby and our cat, sobbing for the pain and fear we had felt, but also overwhelmed with relief to be together finally in that moment,” she Kat, who paid tribute to the staff at Treliske for saving her life.
Just under a year later, she received the news that her final MRI had shown her heart had recovered and was completely back to normal.
It was the news they had been waiting for – and Kat wanted to celebrate in style.
Having always wanted to run a marathon, she is now preparing to take part in the London Marathon for Action on Pre-Eclampsia.
“We've just celebrated Saxon's second birthday and I want to both celebrate the fact that we survived and also raise awareness for this terrible disease.
“The team that cared for us in the hospital were unbelievable, especially in the midst of a global pandemic.
“Their awareness of preeclampsia truly saved my life,” said Kat.
The charity works to train medical professionals to work with pre-eclampsia and spot the signs quickly, with Kat adding: “Unfortunately not everyone is as lucky as I was.
“Globally, every six minutes a woman dies from pre-eclampsia.”
Kat has set up a fundraising page with the aim of raising £2,000 before the marathon on April 23.
Every £5 donation left via www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kat-burton will also enter the giver into raffle to win a £100 Tesco voucher.
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