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Against the odds: heart patient Hannah becomes a mother
The birth of a child and the creation of the Oxford Heart Centre are connected by one woman, Hannah Warner.
At the age of three Hannah had open heart surgery to treat aortic stenosis (narrowing of the aortic valve). She needed further treatment at the age of 20. As a child she was told she would never have children; the pressure on her heart would be too great. However, when she married she sought medical advice, and decided that, provided she had the right care, it might be possible to have a baby.
In June 2009 Hannah gave birth to a little boy, Owen Oliver. She was under the care of not only the maternity team, but eight different groups of health professionals at the John Radcliffe Hospital. Had her heart not been able to cope with the birth, the cardiac team would have operated on her immediately. Only the John Radcliffe and a handful of other hospitals in the UK are able to cope with this procedure.
"I have never seen so many medics in one room, they were almost falling over each other. It was a very strange feeling to know that you are going in to have a baby but might leave having had open heart surgery as well." remembers Hannah.
Dr Oliver Ormerod has treated Hannah for 17 years. "Delivering a woman like Hannah requires the presence of several different specialties which do not normally exist together…" he explains. "Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals is quite unusual in having the full range of expertise in a single institution."
For Hannah and Owen all went well, and her heart stood up to the birth. She also has another important connection with the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals; as an interior designer for Nightingale Associates, she has worked on the interior of the Oxford Heart Centre.
"I know what it is like to lie in a hospital bed … day after day," she says. "I knew I could make a real difference."
Adapted from an article in Torch, Summer 2009