Laura writes, “In February 2018, my sister, Ruth and her husband, Martin welcomed their beautiful daughter, my niece, Sofia into the world. She is so perfect and we couldn’t imagine life without her. Sadly this is what we may have faced due to Sofia contracting the group B Strep infection.
Unfortunately, during the breaking of her waters, my sister passed the group B Strep to her beautiful baby girl who could have passed away because of this following the birth, or could have been stillborn. Following a 5 day induction and an emergency Caesaerean, Sofia was born and placed immediately on IV antibiotics.
Both my sister and Sofia had Sepsis by this stage and were extremely ill. They spent a week in hospital receiving round-the-clock care. Although we are grateful to the hospital for saving their lives, we are so annoyed to think all of this could have been prevented had my sister known she was a carrier of group B Strep and subsequent treatment during labour.
I ran my first Half Marathon in June to raise money for the charity. This was a distance I had never ran before. In order to train, I ran in all weather, after very little sleep due to the babies as well as running home from work a few days a week in order to prepare. After having twins less than two years ago and approaching 40, I wanted to prove that I could do this challenge!! The race itself was long and hard especially as my knee was extremely painful at the end. I managed it in around 2 hours though so was very pleased with myself. With my workplace matching what I have raised, I will have around £800 so far for the charity.”