A mum who collapsed in a hospital car park at nine months pregnant and died will live on through the daughter she never got to meet, her husband has said.
Rachel Molloy, 36, was a few days from her due date when she died in April.
Widower Nick has revealed that news of the birth of their baby girl Isabelle was one of the last things he got to say to his wife before she passed away.
According to a report in the Manchester Evening News, Rachel had no idea she was having a girl – as she had wanted the gender to be a surprise.
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He told the paper: “She was the light of my life and my true soulmate. I can’t imagine this world without her, because she was my world. Rach never got to meet our little girl.”
The couple had intended to name their new arrival Isabelle Rey, if it was a girl, but Nick changed the name to Isabelle Rachel when he realised what was happening.
He continued: “It breaks my heart to think that Isabelle will never get to meet her mother. But I know Rach’s memory will live on in her children and everyone who knew her.”
Rachel, of Sale in Trafford, suffered a ruptured splenic artery aneurysm, which is a rare pregnancy complication that leads to the death of the mother is 75% of cases and the infant 95% of the time.
Rachel had no symptoms at first, but on April 24 she reported abdominal pains and Nick rushed her to the hospital.
She collapsed in the car park when the aneurysm ruptured and wasn’t breathing. As she had suffered a cardiac arrest, baby Isabelle needed to be delivered by c-section.
Doctors put Rachel on life support but she died in the early hours of the day following.
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That was two months ago and Isabelle is still being cared for at a neonatal intensive care unit in Manchester.
She has been taken off the ventilator, but according to the Manchester Evening News, the long-term effects of what she went through when her mum died won’t be known for some time.
Nick said: “You hear of tragedies but they don’t really hit home for you – they happen on the news and in films. But when it happens to you, you just can’t believe it.”
Nick, who has a three-year-old son with Rachel called James, has since set up a JustGiving page to raise funds as a thank-you to Wythenshawe Hospital, where his wife received care, and Saint Mary’s for looking after Isabelle.
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