Incredible Story Of Texas Mum, Callie Colwick Who Had To Have Her Legs Amputated Due To Pregnancy Complications
Pregnancy complications are of a wide range but the ordeal of Callie Colwick is quite damning. The Texas mum, Callie Colwick, developed placenta accreta, a serious pregnancy complication in which the placenta grows too deeply into the uterine wall, at 15 weeks. She spent weeks in the hospital before her son, Quinn, who was stillborn was delivered.
Colwick then experienced severe hemorrhaging and went into septic shock. The serious complication occurs when the placenta detaches from the uterine wall after delivery and causes severe blood loss.
She tragically lost her newborn son and contracted sepsis which left her fighting for her life as her organs failed.
Doctors had no choice but to amputate both of Callie’s legs, her left thumb and forefinger and remove her uterus as the tissue had ‘died’ due to the loss of blood.
The graphic designer, from McKinney, Texas, said:
“My limbs started to die. My legs were black and shriveled up, my toes looked like raisins.”
At the time she couldn’t push herself around in a standard wheelchair and was forced to wear diapers as she wasn’t able to go to the bathroom alone.
It wasn’t until December 2019, when Callie received an Instagram message from a stranger offering to raise the funds to buy her the special wheelchair.
Amy Bernhard, 32, set up a GoFundMe campaign and within just one day she had raised a staggering $20,980 for Callie’s chair with the extra money going towards installing ramps in her home.
When Callie and husband Kevin, 30, a web developer, found out she was pregnant with Quinn in November 2016 they were over the moon.
But when Callie, who has a four-year-old named Kenzi, began experiencing heavy bleeding at work when she was 15 weeks pregnant, she went to hospital.
Doctors told Callie that Quinn could be born at any time and that tragically he would not survive the birth.
She said:
“Here we were in this room, surrounded by women giving birth and babies crying and we were told that Quinn had no chance of survival and we were just waiting to give birth to him.”
Callie lay in the Trandelenberg Position with her feet elevated above her head in a last ditch attempt to help her baby survive.
She said:
“I hung like a bat trying to keep him inside through gravity. I was afraid of sneezing or going to the restroom in case my waters broke and he was born.
“It was a terrifying few weeks with nothing to do in the hospital but just wait.”
Doctors induced labor on December 26 and little Quinn was stillborn, weighing just half a pound.
‘MY WORLD WENT BLACK’
Callie said:
“I was fading in and out of consciousness. I wasn’t responsive, my eyes would roll to the back of my head and I was burning up.
“My fever had spiked way too high and they were packing ice onto me.
“They broke my waters and he was born. Quinn was too tiny to survive; he went straight to heaven.
“My husband was stuck between mourning the loss of his son and making all these medical decisions.”
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During the delivery Callie lost so much blood that a trauma doctor was flown in from Dallas.
“My uterus was hemorrhaging blood. Doctors were pumping blood into me as soon as it was flowing out.”
But Callie developed septic shock in her uterus and the infection soon spread leaving doctors no choice but to remove her uterus.
She said:
“My world went black. That infection overrode my entire body. They had to take out my uterus.
“The sepsis shut down my kidneys and my lungs so I was on a breathing machine.”
Two months later, doctors decided that they would have to amputate Callie’s legs below the knee and part of her left hand as the tissue was so damaged due to lack of blood.
She said:
“I remember coming to, in extreme pain and confusion. My husband had to explain what happened.
“I had everything minus my uterus and my feet.”
Callie spent more than a year in the ICU and finally in March 2018 she was able to return home.
”I remember coming to, in extreme pain and confusion. My husband had to explain what happened. I had everything minus my uterus and my feet.”
She had been refused prosthetics by her health insurance and struggled to adjust to life as an amputee in a bulky wheelchair that she could not push herself in.
She said:
“The wheelchair they sent me home in was a basic chair off of Amazon. Kevin had to dress my wounds every day.”
Callie was finally able to stand on her knees for the first time on January 15, 2019. In April, she was finally approved for prosthetic and she applied for a custom chair in October.
She shared her frustration on Instagram where Amy, a business coach, from Lafayette, Louisiana, came across her story.
Amy said:
“I glanced at Callie’s page and as I watched her videos, I had tears come down my face. I had trouble sleeping because I could not stop thinking about what this woman had gone through.”
She reached out to Callie and offered to start a GoFundMe campaign for her chair, but Callie at first turned down the offer.
Callie explained:
“I messaged her back and said: ‘No thanks’. I was still hoping that my insurance would approve it. But she just kept messaging me and then when my request was declined again for the chair, I agreed.
“I said: ‘Yes, do what you think is best’.”
The next morning Amy launched the fundraising campaign and Callie was amazed to see how quickly people donated.
She said:
“This generous gift from a complete stranger gives me the ability to make my home completely accessible.”
Watch video:
‘I truly feel like I am living on borrowed time now’ — This mom spent more than a year in the ICU after losing her legs in a harrowing stillbirth delivery pic.twitter.com/uHaKSQYxkc
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 25, 2020