Mum collapses just days after the birth of her new baby boy

Samantha Martin had no idea she would need life saving surgery just days after the birth of her son.

A week after her baby boy Jacob was born Ms Martin,29, from the Gold Coast collapsed at a photo shoot. Her next clear memory was waking up in hospital and being told her life had been saved by a double lung transplant, reports The Courier Mail.

“To have Jacob healthy and happy is a miracle, I think. And for me, I know someone was there watching over me,” she said.

Diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension, which occurs in the lungs’ arteries. It’s a condition that made her heart go into overdrive to pump blood through her lungs, and it’s believed that her pregnancy exacerbated the condition.

Her mother, Joanne Hall, 53, took care of newborn Jacob.

“We were told there was no turning back, we had to get lungs within 14 days (or) … she wouldn’t have been able to survive,” Ms Hall said.

Ms Martin was placed on an urgent nationwide waiting list and an organ match was found within a week.

“(She) was literally standing at death’s door and her life was saved by an excellent team effort,” Dr Ziegenfuss said.

“I’m just so blessed. If you have what I have, you’ve got to stay strong and positive and never give up,” she said.

Jacob, now eight weeks old, was taken to the hospital every day to visit Ms Martin as she fought to survive.

“We laid him on the side of the bed just to let him feel Mum and smell her. The doctors said he could smell her,” Ms Hall said.

Since learning of her remarkable fight for life, many of those closest to Ms Martin have now registered to be organ donors.

“Until you walk in these shoes, you don’t realise how important donation is,” Ms Hall said. “We would have lost Sammy … (organs are) being buried that can be used. Ten people can be saved from one person.”

What is Primary pulmonary hypertension?

When not accompanied by underlying heart and lung disease or other illnesses, it is called primary pulmonary hypertension. The greatest number of cases is reported in women between ages 21 and 40.

Patients with PHT may experience:
•Fatigue
•Dizziness
•Shortness of breath

Donatelife.gov.au

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16 Comments

- - mom101628 said
  - 17 Apr 2017
    4:47 pm
Being a donor and letting everyone know you want to be one is so important.

- - tessie said
  - 31 Mar 2017
    12:03 pm
So glad she survived and her children still have their mother. Stay well Samantha and congratulations on your baby boy.

- - mom94125 said
  - 07 Sep 2016
    8:07 pm
she was very lucky that there was a donor,very sad for that family left behind but she has another chance

- - mom134803 said
  - 21 Jun 2016
    11:38 am
Wow, glad this mum got her transplant so quickly !

- - nealsq said
  - 21 Jun 2016
    10:19 am
after my third pregnancy I somehow managed to get massive pulmonary embolism (both lungs), and that was scary enough, I didn’t realise how close to death I was until researching afterwards. The poor family must have been beside themselves with fear, so glad she recovered and had such great support from her friends and family!

- - Lori-Anne said
  - 21 Jun 2016
    10:13 am
Amazing story of survival. One very blessed and lucky lady.

- - mom67623 said
  - 21 Jun 2016
    6:15 am
So glad that we live in an age where life can be saved. We have marvelous doctors who literally can perform ‘miracles’. So wonderful that this Mum recovered and can have time with her newborn and family truly blessed, It was an inspiring and heartwarming ending to what years ago could have ended in tragedy. Thank you for sharing and all the best

- - mum4107 said
  - 21 Jun 2016
    5:28 am
Oh my goodness. I’m so glad she was able to get the transplant

- - mom140193 said
  - 21 Jun 2016
    12:05 am
Very scarey. Highlights what an amazing gift organ donation is. Please everyone consider this if you are able. Organ donor rates in australia are so low.so many more lives can be saved.

- - mom111362 said
  - 20 Jun 2016
    11:50 pm
wow how scary but lucky

- - mom160421 said
  - 20 Jun 2016
    7:10 pm
She is certainly a lucky lady. I wish her and her family all the very best.

- - mom57665 said
  - 20 Jun 2016
    5:45 pm
So scary how in one day or hour your whole life can have such a drastic turn for the worst. SO glad she is okay.

- - mom112217 said
  - 20 Jun 2016
    5:24 pm
Wishing Samantha a full recovery and all the best for the future.

- - mom90758 said
  - 20 Jun 2016
    4:52 pm
Oh! I’m so glad this story has an happy ending. Luckily they could make the transplant so quick!!

- - BellaB said
  - 20 Jun 2016
    4:07 pm
She’s lucky she wasn’t taken to Canberra Hospital – they’d probably have said it was “some weird post partum thing” and sent her home.
- june11 replied
  
  01 Jul 2016 , 4:54 pm
  I have heard similar comments about that hospital before.
  Sounds like more training is needed there…or some butts kicked