A new mum is currently fighting to return home to her baby, after she was forced to give birth in a coma when a tumour burst in her brain.
Emma Taylor, 33, is currently ‘trapped in her own body’, unable to talk, with minimal movement. She is also blind in one eye.
Doctors say that with consistent rehab, the previously fit and healthy mum could make a ‘sound recovery’ and return home to baby Ophelia, now seven months.
But after receiving rehabilitation on the NHS, Emma’s partner, Scott Weeks, says she needs more treatment to help her come home.
He’s now fundraising in the hope of raising money for her care.
Scott, 47, from Chelmsford, said: ‘Emma was recovering really well in rehab, but due to a lack of beds she’s been moved to a less intense programme.
‘She can’t talk yet, but she can communicate with her hands and head movements – she’s showed she’s determined to get better for our daughter.’
In October 2022, Emma, then seven and a half months pregnant, wasn’t feeling well after complaining of a headache.
Scott, who works in sales and marketing, said: ‘I knew she hadn’t been feeling well, and while I was downstairs she fell out the bed and was sick on the floor.’
When he went to help his partner, Scott noticed the left side of her body was lifeless and her right eye was half open and half closed.
‘I called an ambulance, but they couldn’t get to us fast enough, so I decided to drive Emma myself,’ he added.
At hospital, doctors decided to deliver Ophelia six weeks early via c-section, so they could carry out scans on Emma, without affecting her unborn child.
While Ophelia needed some help to breathe, and was placed in an incubator, she suffered no other complications.
Meanwhile, a scan revealed that Emma had been living with a non-cancerous brain tumour, likely since she was born.
‘The scans then showed a huge tumour she’d been living with which had burst after pregnancy hormones accelerated its growth.
‘This caused a bleed on the brain, and as a result, her right brain stem and right eye were affected – leaving her left side paralysed.’
Emma was air lifted to another hospital, where surgeons successfully removed two thirds of the 60mm tumour.
Although doctors had been able to remove some of the tumour, Emma didn’t show any signs of regaining consciousness. However, by the end of January – three months after she collapsed – she began to show signs of cyclical consciousness.
Enna was later transferred to a rehabilitation unit, where she’s been slowly recovering. But her case has been deemed a lower priority, and a reduction in her rehabilitation will slow her progress.
Scott is now afraid this could have an impact on her recovery time.
She was then transferred to Northwick Park rehab unit, where she’s been recovering for three months – but the NHS have now deemed her lower priority.
A reduction in rehabilitation therapy will slow her progress, and Scott is afraid of the effects this could have on her recovery time.
Scott said: ‘The operation was successful but she’s been left with some long term impediments.
‘From where the tumour burst, she is pretty much blind in her right eye, and the movement on her left side is expected be limited to about 75 percent.
‘She’s at the stage where she can communicate with head movements and her hands, we’ve even had a few tears.
‘Although NHS staff have been amazing, due to a lack of beds, she will be moved into a lower intensity rehab programme, which I fear will impact her progress.
‘I’m trying to get the money together so she can get the best treatment – I can tell how frustrated she is.
‘She’s trapped in her own body – and I know all that she wants is to come home to her baby.’
Scott is now raising funds for Emma. ‘Any donations would mean the world to us,’ he adds.
To donate to Scott’s fundraiser visit his GoFundMe.
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