Serena Williams is a well-known name in tennis. At 17, she won the Grand Slam; she's won the U.S. Open six times; the Australian Open seven times, and she holds seven Wimbledon titles. In addition to these amazing feats in the tennis world, she takes pride in her status as a mother. In 2017, Serena gave birth to her daughter Olympia, whom she was pregnant with during her famous Australian Open win. Serena Williams is by no means unhealthy; training daily, eating right, and staying physically healthy are crucial to her career.
These are all things that are usually blamed for the extremely high disparity between black and white mothers' mortality rates. The argument usually goes that black mothers have less prenatal care and lack access to healthcare in general, but this is not the case with Serena Williams.
Before giving birth to her daughter, Serena had dealt with blood clots before. She was well versed in the feeling that usually means one is present and what medications work for her. Blood clots are potentially life-threatening. While we know that clotting in the platelets is useful and necessary in healing wounds, some conditions may cause the body to make more blood clots than normal. In Serena’s case, she was never diagnosed with any blood clotting disorders but has a history of pulmonary embolisms. In 2011, she suffered two bilateral pulmonary embolisms after having foot surgery, and during her pregnancy, she was put on anti-coagulants to combat the possibility of another pulmonary embolism occurring.
Although given adequate prenatal care and precautions against one occurring, shortly after giving birth to her daughter, Serena reported shortness of breath. This is all detailed in her moving piece to CNN, where she was able to voice her harrowing experience giving birth to her daughter, Olympia. She quickly recognized that this was a sign she was, again, having a pulmonary embolism. She reported it to her nurses: "I live in fear of this situation. So, when I fell short of breath, I didn’t wait a second to alert the nurses.” Williams wrote to CNN. After she alerted the nurses, she was brushed off. A nurse who was alerted suggested that she was not thinking clearly due to pain medication.
Both surgery and pregnancy skyrocket the chances of someone having a blood clot, up to five times as much. So, considering her history, this is not a completely far-fetched suggestion, especially from someone who has had this medical emergency in the past.
Serena Williams was eventually rushed into surgery to clear out a hemangioma found in her abdomen. During her first surgery, the original purpose was to restitch her c-section scar after the frequent coughing she experienced due to the embolism. After her first surgery, she was rushed back to have a second surgery to prevent the clots from returning to her lungs.
This is not a completely novel experience for black mothers in America. Serena Williams was able to have access to the adequate care she needed as well as knowledge of her own body. But what about mothers with less access to healthcare? Or mothers who do not have the luxury of having doctors and nurses who aren’t attending to multiple patients in an overcrowded hospital? Making sure there is adequate care for mothers and infants must be a priority. The Serena Williams story has a happy ending, but if she is not listened to and taken seriously the first time, how can we expect any other patient to be taken seriously?
©2023 by UnjustMedicine. Created by Faith Phillips
Sources
Williams, S. (2018, February 20). Serena Williams: What my life-threatening experience taught me about giving birth. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/20/opinions/protect-mother-pregnancy-williams-opinion/index.html
Racial/ethnic disparities in pregnancy-related deaths - United States, 2007-2016. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31487273/
Petersen EE;Davis NL;Goodman D;Cox S;Syverson C;Seed K;Shapiro-Mendoza C;Callaghan WM;Barfield W; (2019).
Racial and Ethnic Disparities Continue in Pregnancy-Related Deaths
Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2021
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/maternal-mortality/2021/maternal-mortality-rates-2021.htm
Donna L. Hoyert
*Photos are fair use*
Comments