A mum from Portsmouth has made not one but two incredible gestures to thank the surgeons in Queen Alexandra Hospital who saved her son’s life.

 

Rebecca Cusworth was just 20 weeks pregnant when she was diagnosed with placenta accreta by consultant obstetrician Marwan Salloum.

 

It is a rare condition that occurs when the placenta attaches itself to scar tissue and goes through the wall of the womb. It can be life-threatening if left untreated.

 

Normally surgery to fix the problem can be extremely traumatic, but Dr Salloum decided to perform a less invasive procedure on Rebecca - an operation that had only been conducted in the UK four times previously.

 

"It was only the fifth time it had been done in the UK and it meant that James and I were ready to leave hospital within only 10 days,” Rebecca told Portsmouth News.

 

 

To thank her surgeon for his incredible work, the mum decided to name her son James Marwan Cusworth after him.

 

But that’s not all she did.

 

“We named our son James Marwan Cusworth after Mr Salloum, but I still wanted to give something back to him and the incredible team that took such great care of us during our stay at QA,” she said.

 

Taking part in a rowing race across the Mediterranean Sea, Rebecca has raised an incredible £1,706 to help the obstetrics unit in the hospital buy a new ultrasound scanner.

 

Unfortunately, her first race -  Sardinia to Barcelona – had to be cancelled due to a storm, so organisers changed the route of the second race so Rebecca and her team of four would row from Sardinia to Menorca.

 

‘We were all set to start, then on the morning of the race, one of our crew had a medical emergency that meant that she was unable to race and neither was her mum, who was also a part of our crew," she said.

 

"An hour before the race start, we drafted in two men from another boat and we were off. We had covered 118 miles and endured a storm. It was an incredible challenge which I am glad to have been a part of.”

21 Shares

Latest

Trending