Charity | Posted on October 21st, 2024 | return to news
Mum to climb Inca trail in aid of Dorset baby loss charity
Kate Gough will be raising funds for University Hospitals Dorset NHS Charity’s SPRING services in memory of her twins.
A mother who lost twin daughters in 2015 is to trek to Machu Picchu next year to raise funds for University Hospitals Dorset NHS Charity’s SPRING services.
Kate Gough remembered being ‘so excited and nervous’ for her first child in July 2015, only to find out in the first scan that she was expecting twins.
During the routine 18-week scan, the technician referred Kate for a more specialist scan the next day. She prepared for the next day, aware that surgery would be needed if the girls had a twin-related condition.
The next day, she found out that Mia and Clara had Twin-to-Twin Transfusion syndrome (TTTS), a rare and serious condition.
TTTS is a condition in which the blood flows unequally between twins that share a placenta. One twin, called the donor twin, pumps blood to the other twin, called the recipient. TTTS causes the recipient twin to receive too much blood, and the donor twin receives too little.
Kate had surgery to cut the abnormal connecting vessels between her twins to allow normal blood flow and continue the pregnancy. After the procedure, Mia and Clara both had heartbeats and were improving, and the couple considered a follow-up to prevent preterm labour. However, Kate was rushed to the intensive therapy unit after she became extremely ill.
Kate said: “They told me that I was going into miscarriage due to chorionic amnionitis, an infection in the uterus following my surgery. The world went black, and I went into shock and disbelief. Continuing the pregnancy would result in sepsis and toxic shock and my body was ending the pregnancy to save my life. But heart wrenchingly, the girls, who had been improving, did not survive. They were too young to be born at 19 weeks. It was an impossible situation; I would have happily swapped my life for theirs at that moment, but it would have taken all of us.”
Kate is ‘forever grateful’ to SPRING for the counselling she received following Mia and Clara’s passing, as well as the support she received during her later pregnancies. Now, Kate feels ready to reach new heights by walking the Inca Trail for Mia, Clara, SPRING and for ‘all the babies lost’.
She said: “Every step I take will be in memory of every baby lost, but mostly to make my daughters proud of their mum. I will truly be standing in the clouds. Reaching altitudes of 2000m, I will feel so close to them, and I imagine the moment we reach the viewing point – exhausted, proud and reflective.
“I can experience magnificence for them. I carry them with me every day and strive to make them proud of the life I am living. Because I live it for them.”
To donate, log onto: https://www.justgiving.com/page/kate-gough-1718536874031.
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