Mum survives four heart attacks and a stroke while giving birth to twins!
Filed under: Birth stories
Pic: Archant
We love a good birth story on Parentdish, but we were left well and truly open mouthed by new mum George Cormack's tale. She amazingly survived four attacks and a stroke as she gave birth to her twins.
George, 33, from Essex, almost died when her heart stopped after a bilateral stroke as she gave birth to her first twin, Oscar. Her second twin, Connie was not breathing when she was delivered, but was saved thanks to medical staff at Colchester General Hospital.
George, full name Georgina, suffered an amniotic fluid embolism - a rare condition which effects about one in 20,000 women - where fluid which surrounds the baby enters the mother's blood stream via the womb and triggers an allergic reaction.
Doctors put George in an induced coma to help her recover, and when she finally woke up, she spent three months battling to get back to health, getting to know her twins, and learning to speak again.
"When I should have been celebrating the happiest event of my life I was at a loss to know who I was, where I was, what I was doing there," says George. "I was unable to understand all these strange noises people around me were making."
Since Oscar and Connie's dramatic arrival last June, George has learnt to speak again, thanks to the help of her speech and language therapist, Alison Wren. She is now back at home with her gorgeous twins and husband, Sean, and is looking forward to going back to work in social care in the future.
It's been traumatic and I've been through every emotion imaginable these past 10 months but, more than anything else, I feel lucky - lucky that I am here to tell the tale and so fortunate to have had Alison my speech therapist and her colleagues helping me every inch of the way.
"I cannot begin to stress how much work they have put into helping me recover. They are incredible unsung heroes. Without the help of a lot of people, I wouldn't be telling this story now.
"The consultant who saved my life, and my babies, whilst working with the crash team, the theatre staff, the midwives, the special care baby unit staff, the critical care unit who nursed me back to consciousness, the stroke unit and the neuro-rehab teams."
Helped by Alison and her colleagues, George had to go back to basics to regain her speech by learning the alphabet and object recognition. She describes her recovery as waking up very slowly.
Speech therapist Alison says George's sheer determination to speak again was 'inspirational':
"I would set George a week's worth of therapy and she would have it done in a day. I've never known anyone so determined. I found it totally inspirational.
"It was one of the most severe strokes I have come across and for her to come back from that position to where she is today is quite amazing."
What a remarkable story. Enjoy your twins, George and Sean!
More on Parentdish: Dad photographs every member of staff that helped save his son for charity book
Source: Archant
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