Vicky's Story

Some of you may know me, Matt or my brothers. If you don’t, please don’t let that stop you reading this.

As you may know, myself and my partner Matt had to go through an experience that you would not wish on your worst enemy. At 28 weeks pregnant we had found out that our baby daughter, Phoebe had died. Please bare with me as i try to explain our story so that it makes you aware of just how much heartache that preeclampsia can cause if not treated or diagnosed in time.

Throughout my pregnancy as soon as i hit the third trimester I started to get swelling really badly to my feet, ankles and even my legs. Everytime I queried this with my midwife I just got told that as it was just my legs and not my hands or face that it was nothing to worry about – it was just a normal side effect to pregnancy.

On Sunday 2^nd March I had pain like stomach cramps under my ribs all day as well as sickness and diarrhoea. I explained these symptoms to Matt who was straight away concerned and worried. After a few hours in the evening of getting worse we called the maternity unit for some advice. After being told to try a number of different things we were advised to go into the hospital to be assessed and to make sure that everything was ok.

When we were waiting in the assessment room for the midwife, I started to try and convince myself that everything would be fine and we would be sent home in a few hours – how wrong was I! After seeing 2 midwives and 2 doctors we were then told the heartbreaking news that there was no heartbeat.

We were shown into a private room where I was hooked up to all kinds of machines, had needles inserted into every access point in my arms and told that I would have to give birth to my baby. My blood pressure reached a dangerous 244 over 140 – the highest blood pressure the medical team had ever seen. Not only had preeclampsia caused this to happen to Phoebe, my life was also very much in danger as preeclampsia causes the death of around 6 women a year. Myself, Matt and our families could not believe that this was happening. As soon as the doctor saw the swelling to my legs and asking what seemed a thousand questions he came to the conclusion that no one else could - that I had preeclampsia.

On Tuesday 4^th March at 6.14am Phoebe Janet Rose Audley was born weighing a tiny 1lb 3oz and measuring 20cm long. Laying there afterwards I just felt numb and very strange. This wasn’t how this was supposed to be – our baby should be crying. In the evening we had a naming ceremony for Phoebe with family and close friends present. Afterwards my brothers, Richard and Tony were trying to find words of comfort for me and Matt. It was then that they come up with the idea of doing the Great South Run. I thought these were just words until the next day that they had informed us that they had both entered the run, been in contact with a charity and had set up the fund raising page.

Not many people know the signs to look out for when it comes to preeclampsia. The main signs are; swelling to hands, face, feet and ankles, high blood pressure, protein in urine, pain under the ribs, problems with vision such as blurred vision and bad headaches. Out of these symptoms I had 4 out of the 6 and yet it was not picked up until it was too late that I had the condition. If it had been picked up something could of been done and this could be a whole lot of a different story and outcome.

The whole thing still feels like a bad dream that we are going to wake from and find that I am still pregnant with everything still to look forward to and that this has been a story I have read about someone else.

We would do anything to change what has happened, to bring Phoebe back but we can’t. The money that has so far been raised is amazing and is going to make a huge difference to diagnosing and treatment of preeclampsia. The more money that can be raised the more midwives that can be trained and the more information that can be given and shared. We hope that no other parent has to go through this. It is not right to be choosing what you would like to have for your babies funeral when you should be picking out nursery furniture, baby grows and baby names.

All we can say is a massive thank you to those that have made a donation and to those that are thinking about it, what is there to think about? Please give as much or as little as you can. Just think of our little Phoebe, what we have been through and the difference you can make.

Tony's Story

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Many of you may know me, many of you won't but please read on.

On Monday 3rd March 2014, my family and also the Audley family had to deal with the sad news that the baby that my sister was expecting in May had sadly died.  She was 28 weeks old and her death was as a result of Pre-Eclampsia.

Whilst having to come to terms with this tragic news, my sister Vicky and her partner Matt had to deal with the agonising prospect of Vicky having to go through the traumatic experience of labour and giving birth.  Matt also had Vicky to worry about as she had really high blood pressure with the midwife saying that Vicky's blood pressure was the highest she had seen in her 14 years experience!

At 06:14 on Tuesday 4th March 2014, little Phoebe was born weighing a tiny 1lb 3 oz and measuring only 20 cms.

The whole experience seemed surreal until I saw little Phoebe at the hospital.  I burst into tears and have never been so emotional in all my life.  My sister was sat there in the hospital bed, unrecognisable as she had been through so much and had not slept for days.

Later that day, after a short blessing at the hospital, my brother and I tried to find words to comfort Vicky and Matt.  I mentioned maybe doing something for charity like the Great South Run.

Things moved on from there really and by Wednesday evening, I had entered, contacted a charity called Action on Pre-Eclampsia and was out for the first of many training runs in preparation.

If you know me, you will realise that I am not built for running...more for comfort than speed! 

However, 10 miles isn't that far is it?????

Please, Please, please take a little time to donate as much or as little as you can in memory of little Phoebe and also to help the people at Action on Pre-Eclampsia continue the good work that they do and find ways of helping to research this field so that the number of families who have to go through what our families have been through is reduced.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and also thanks for the donation.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.