Pregnant woman survives stroke against the odds… but now can’t pick up her newborn daughter
Claire Gibbs from Pitsea in Essex, was given just a one-in-ten chance of survival following her stroke but battled through. However she was left paralysed down her left side.
Full Story:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2138810/Mother-pick-newborn-having-stroke-pregnancy.html
Hi, thx for the article. The daily mail got it wrong tho (as they often do, shoddy paper that i read everyday!) - at the start they say claire had an aneurysm, then that its an AVM -
"An aneurysm is a ballooning out of a blood vessel (usually an artery) at a spot where the vessel wall has become weakened. An AVM or arteriovenous malformation is a tangled web of abnormal arteries and veins connected by one or more fistulas (abnormal communications). Aneurysm most commonly occur at vessel branches or bifurcations in the abdomen, neck and brain. AVMs generally occur in the brain and along the spinal cord."
So she may not be one of the AVM'er, but either way i hope she does well in the future.
I met a woman who had her first stroke that revealed her AVM when she was delivering her baby.
My situation was very similar. I was 13 weeks pregnant with my second son when I had a stroke, leaving me hemiparetic. I had 2 embos by the time I was 16 weeks pregnant. At 20 weeks, I had the craniotomy, which left me with even more weakness on the left side due to the fact the AVM was deeper than expected. I had to learn, for a 3rd time (if you include those first initial baby steps), how to walk again. Then, I had my 8 lb monster 3 months after the crani. I was freaked out until I met someone on this site who had a similar situation a year or so earlier. Just knowing that I wasn't the ONLY one made it better somehow-more survivable, I suppose. But I was surprised at the lack of help from the nurses. I spoke to 3 O. therapists total (before and after delivery) and none of them knew tricks on how to care for your newborn with only 50% use of your body. Unfortunately, like most things with hemiparetics, it's all trial and error. I just had to keep calm and keep trying, not easy at all. Stories like this article should inspire more help for people like her and myself.