Pottstown Mom's Viral TikTok Of Near-Death Delivery Spreading Awareness About Rare Birth Complication
POTTSTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- A Pottstown mom is famous on TikTok with videos of her near-death delivery and the remarkable medical intervention that saved her and the baby.
Mom being reunited with her baby for the first time after a death-defying birth, images that have gone viral on TikTok.
The delivery at Paoli Hospital was routine until Kayleigh Summers "started screaming that something was wrong with my heart." Summers, who lives in Pottstown, became an instant social media sensation when she decided to share her story.
"I went into cardiopulmonary arrest so my heart stopped and I stopped breathing," she said.
The baby was delivered via cesarean section in minutes and then Summers was put on life support and transported to Lankenau.
"She had a very rare thing called an amniotic fluid embolism, which is something that you really can't predict and usually don't end well," Dr. Mara Caroline said. "It usually ends with mom and baby dying."
Caroline had to tell Summers' family that the healthy first-time mom might not survive.
Dad had to meet the baby alone.
"Not knowing if he would have to raise our son on his own," Summers said.
The life-saving interventions included ECMO, a machine that keeps blood circulating, and a tiny heart pump called Impella that allows the heart to rest and recover.
"Getting her on those machines was able to keep her body alive to perform the function of the heart while the heart was not doing anything," Caroline said.
Six days later, the machines were removed, Summers was OK and was told what happened.
"It was absolutely shocking," she said.
And this is the baby, Callahan. He's 2 now.
Summers says she wanted to share her story on TikTok to raise awareness and help other women who've had birth trauma.
"Birth trauma is something that is happening to so many women and it's sort of kept in shadows," she said.
For Summers, who's completely recovered, there was also a hysterectomy, necessary to save her life.
"The emotional effect of dying, being resuscitated and also not being able to have any more children has been a difficult recovery but mixed with gratitude for getting to be here and watch my son grow up," Summers said.
They've got quite a story to tell Cal someday, a story millions are already sharing on TikTok.
For more on Summers' story and her support group, click here.