A Mother’s Story of Loss, Survival, and Advocacy for Maternal Care

In 2017 Tomeka James Isaac was pregnant with her first and only son, Jace. At 40 years old, she was told very early that she would be at a high risk for pre-eclampsia, but so far, Tomeka’s pregnancy was going well. At 34 weeks however, at a regular obstetrician appointment, she was told her son was measuring small and they would need to run some tests. Though he failed the contraction stress test at her 35-week appointment, after an ultrasound doctors assured Tomeka he was fine.

On May 14, Tomeka woke up in the middle of the night with a painful stomachache. She never experienced morning sickness, so she knew this was a cause for concern. When her friend came to help take care of her, Tomeka passed out and was rushed to the ER where, they were informed their son had died in utero. Without skipping a beat, without a moment to process that information, they told her she would need to be induced at another hospital where they could monitor her heart during the induction. Tomeka and her husband waited four and a half hours to be transported. While waiting they did a CT scan, only to find that Tomeka was bleeding internally and rushed her in for emergency C-section.

In surgery they found Tomeka had a liter of blood in her stomach and a softball sized blood clot on her liver. She was dying.

“They threw everything at me, including the kitchen sink, to try to save my life.”

Seven surgeries later, and after being readmitted to the hospital (where she and her husband were forced to miss their own son’s funeral) Tomeka was finally released  July 5.

While in the ER during this time, Tomeka’s friend asked her if her OB had been doing urine tests throughout her pregnancy. She recalled that no, they had not.

“I realized that my doctor had never done urine tests on me the entire time I was pregnant, even when Jace measured small, even when Jace failed the non-stress test. There were no other tests done. There was no blood work.”

If her doctor had done the proper tests, they would have found protein in her urine, a symptom of HELLP syndrome, and a sign that they needed to take action sooner than anticipated.

“I was disappointed because me and my husband did everything right. I went to every single appointment, even the extra appointments from Maternal Fetal Medicine…I had private insurance. I have two master’s degrees and loads of access. I had OBs around every corner, and I couldn’t understand how this happened and how many times in my pregnancy I was failed.”

After enduring this heartbreaking experience, Tomeka and her husband founded Jace’s Journey in 2019, a nonprofit focused on addressing disparities in maternal and infant health.