Jesse’s story 🤍🕊️

#justiceforjesse

For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Hannah, Jesse’s Mummy.

My son, my first born, my beautiful baby boy, Jesse Samuel Parsons, was born on Saturday 26th July 2025 at 08:59 weighing a perfect 7lb 8oz. Just three days later, in the early hours of Wednesday 30th July 2025 at 00:13, he passed away peacefully in my arms, both being cuddled by his Daddy Steve, and surrounded by our families until his very last breath.

At 07:10am that Saturday morning I haemorrhaged at home. Unknown to us at the time, an artery on my placenta had ruptured, causing catastrophic blood loss, which was Jesse’s blood. I had to have a Category 1 caesarean section under general anaesthetic, and Steve was not allowed next to me in theatre, in order to protect him from what was happening. They had to resuscitate Jesse for 12 minutes after his birth as he had died inside of me and I too, nearly lost my life.

There were exposed and unprotected vessels running across my cervix, alongside the ruptured artery on my placenta which caused my hemorrhaging. Steve and I have since seen photographs of my placenta confirming this and my placenta has been sent to a pathologist for further testing. Investigations are ongoing within the hospital I birthed at, as well as by the Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations (MNSI) team who are an independent body investigating our case.

Jesse was transferred to St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey which is the leading hospital in Surrey who deal with the most severe cases of sick babies. He spent 3 days in their Neonatal Intensive Care Unit receiving “cooling treatment” in order to save his life. Although our little Jesse fought incredibly hard, we lost him. His cause of death has been established by the coroner as severe hypoxia, which led to multiple organ failure and brain damage. But the root cause and catalyst to his death was my placenta.

We now believe that I had an undetected and undiagnosed placenta condition called Vasa Previa (Vasa Praevia), which is a rare but extremely serious pregnancy complication. When undetected or left untreated, carries an extremely high risk of death for both mother and or baby, due to exsanguination.

Mine was not detected at all during my whole pregnancy. There were two opportunities where it could have been detected, both of which were missed; one at our 20 week anomaly scan in the second trimester and another at a 37 week growth scan in the third trimester.

At the time of Jesse’s birth I was 41+2 weeks pregnant, considered low risk in all areas, with a healthy first and single pregnancy. Jesse was always measuring perfectly on the 50th percentile, with steady growth, a normal heartbeat and healthy movements throughout. I had what doctors would call a textbook pregnancy. And yet on the day of Jesse’s birth, my son died from something that could and should have been detected and therefore prevented.

I lost my son in the very hospital that I was born in. I lost my son on the very date that I was born on. I lost my son to an undetected, undiagnosed, untreated placenta condition which should have been picked up, which could have been prevented, which would have saved his life.

This can clearly happen to anyone, even with the healthiest of pregnancies. And that is why we will not let Jesse’s death be in vain.

So we are now fighting for answers:

Why was this missed?

Why is Vasa Praevia not routinely screened for in the UK?

Why wasn’t Jesse given the chance to live?

We believe NHS pregnancy screening must change so that no other family has to endure this. No parent should ever lose a perfectly healthy baby because of a placenta condition that could have been detected, diagnosed, treated and therefore prevented.

To my perfectly healthy baby boy, Jesse - your story will change lives.

If you can, please take a moment to donate to the Little Roo Neonatal Fund for Ashford & St Peter’s Hospital and Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.

These charities helped care and support Jesse for the short time that he was with us, and are now supporting myself, Steve and our families immeasurably in navigating our lives ahead without him. However big or small, every penny that you can donate to these amazing charities and their cause is appreciated.

We understand that you may not be able to donate or may have already, if so, all we ask is that you please just add your signature to this petition, which promotes change for routine screening for Vasa Previa and its groups within the UK. Every signature is a step toward justice for Jesse, and toward saving future babies. A cause that we will be fighting for the rest of our lives.

Change.org - Vasa Previa Petition:

https://chng.it/XVJLQnsVGG

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you 🤍