Whitchurch mother's thanks to life-saving medics at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital
A woman who suffered a cardiac arrest while giving birth to her third child in Shrewsbury had an emotional visit to the unit that cared for her after medical staff saved her life.
Hilary Wilson's heart stopped working as a result of a rare amniotic fluid embolism during the delivery of her son Felix at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in July last year.
Hilary, 41, experienced a very difficult labour and was taken for an emergency Caesarean section.
When Felix was delivered, he was not breathing, meaning medical staff had to care for him as well as working on Hilary to restart her heart. Hilary, from Whitchurch, was placed on life support and woke up four days later. Her initial odds of survival were put at 30 per cent, with an 85 per cent chance of suffering some brain damage.
Today she and Felix are doing well, and in November Hilary will take part in a charity cycle ride from Vietnam to Cambodia to raise money for the intensive therapy unit at RSH to thank them.
Hilary returned to the unit to speak to staff about her experience and let them know how she is getting on.
Although she is fundraising for ITU, Hilary said she also wanted to say thanks to the maternity team for saving their lives.
She said: "It was a wonderful experience going back to the ITU and High Dependency Unit to see it from the other side.
"Although it was tough for me, it was also a very healing experience, and it was particularly great to see some friendly faces I recognised.
"Although I had a difficult time at first when I woke up in the HDU, there were a lot of wonderful nurses and doctors with whom I felt a great affinity once I started to feel more human, as well as immense gratitude for looking after me so well.
"It's amazing to be able to show my appreciation by giving something back to them.
"Although I'm raising funds for ITU, it is important for me to also thank the team of people in the maternity department who did the CPR and kept me going until the crash team arrived, as well as those who cared for Felix, probably saving his life as well.
"I will be forever grateful to all the wonderful nurses and doctors who cared for me, without whom I would have left three motherless boys and a heartbroken husband."
