Mum searches for sonographer who discovered rare condition to say ‘thanks’

A young Mt Annan mother is searching for the sonographer whose prudence she says saved the life of her three-week-old baby.

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A young Mt Annan mother is searching for the sonographer whose prudence she says saved the life of her three-week-old baby.

Ally Rose was 20 weeks pregnant when she went to I-Med Radiology in Campbelltown to have a standard ultrasound.

Ally Rose and her new born son Elijah at their Mt Annan home. Picture: Robert Pozo

The sonographer named Kellie or Kelly performed a Doppler ultrasound which showed colour and blood flow in the scans and picked up that Miss Rose, 21, had a rare condition called vasa praevia.

Vasa praevia occurs when foetal blood vessels cross or run near the cervix and are not protected by the umbilical cord or placenta, putting them at risk of rupturing when the membranes break.

Elijah is now living at home happy and healthy. Picture: Robert Pozo

Screening for vasa praevia is not routinely conducted, resulting in some women not showing any signs of the condition until going into labour.

After a C-section three-week-old baby Elijah is living happy and healthy at home.

Miss Rose, who has had two previous miscarriages, has been searching for the sonographer to thank her.

“She was probably just doing her job but I desperately want to say ‘thank you’,” she said.

“If I was to go into labour or my water was to break then that vessel would have broken and that’s his life support.

“By the time I got to hospital he could have been gone.”

Miss Rose said she was told the sonographer was no longer working at the Campbelltown clinic, and she was hoping to track her down to meet Elijah and give her a box of chocolates.

“I actually called to find out when she was working when I was still pregnant to give her the chocolates but I decided to wait so she could meet Elijah,” Miss Rose said.

“But when I went back they told me she wasn’t working there any more, I made a few other calls but obviously her privacy they couldn’t give me too many details other than pass on my thanks.

“I’m hoping she reads this (article) because I’d love her to meet Elijah and I still have the box of chocolates waiting for her.”