Coronation Street actor Simon Gregson and his wife Emma have opened up about her terrifying brush with death after she suffered an ectopic pregnancy.
The 43-year-old soap star said the mother of his three children might not be here today if it wasn’t for the NHS doctors and nurses who treated her so well.
Recalling the traumatic experience on Lorraine on Wednesday, Emma said: “In September last year I started to feel a little unwell, and I just got this pure pain in my stomach where I couldn’t even stand up.
“I knew immediately that something was wrong. Simon decided to take me into Wythenshawe Hospital, which was our local hospital.
Simon added: “I was a bit worried because Emma is kind of like all the special forces rolled into one small body. So if she’s in pain, she’s in pain.”
Simon and Emma have previously spoken of how she has sadly miscarried eleven times in the past, including one time at just over 21 weeks pregnant.
They were devastated when they were told Emma’s pain was due to another failed conception.
“The surgeon at the time told me that I’d had a ruptured ectopic pregnancy,” Emma said.
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“Being told that was probably the scariest moment of my entire life, because I didn’t know what an ectopic pregnancy was. And then kind of dealing with the fact that afterwards that the pregnancy wasn’t going to carry on.”
An ectopic pregnancy can affect one in a hundred women and is when a fertilised egg implants itself outside of the womb, usually in one of the Fallopian tubes.
It can become potentially fatal if the Fallopian tube splits open causing internal bleeding.
Simon said: “That’s when the realisation hit home that this is very serious. I mean, the surgeon said afterwards that another couple of hours and she very possibly may have died.”
Emma added: “The staff at Wythenshawe Hospital absolutely saved my life. Other women don’t have the outcome that I had unfortunately. So I was very lucky.”
The couple returned to the wards where they were treated to personally thank the staff who helped them, as ITV’s Lorraine celebrates the 70th anniversary of the NHS this week.
Soap star Simon said they were happy to share their story: “I think it’s great to be able to raise awareness and help people understand how brilliant the staff at the NHS are.”
Delivering a cake to the hardworking doctors and nurses, Emma told them: “I was a mess when I came in, you all did amazingly well with me and I was very looked after so thank you.
“To have the opportunity to come back and thank the staff who saved my life is incredible.”
Simon and Emma married in 2010 and have had to deal with a lot of personal heartache, enduring eleven miscarriages.
They are the proud parents to three sons – Alfie, 11, Harry, nine and two-year-old old Teddy.
Teddy was a twin, with Emma later telling OK magazine: “Sadly only one of the twins survived. We’re very lucky to have this one.”
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She added: “There’s no reason or explanation for it. It was just one of those things. I was a little disheartened. We just thought that everything happens for a reason.”
Lorraine is on ITV, weekdays 8.30am – 9.25am