A British teacher was forced to deliver her baby prematurely at 33 weeks and spend nearly two weeks in intensive care in Thailand due to a rare, life-threatening pregnancy complication.
Maddison Carter, 36, from Yorkshire, admitted she “had no clue” about the severity of her condition at the time.
Ms Carter, who lived in Phuket before relocating to Ireland last month, said she woke up on March 30, 2025, with sudden, severe neck pain, nausea, and vomiting, so she checked her own blood pressure, and it was 160. A normal blood pressure is considered to be between 90 and 130, according to the British Heart Foundation.
By the time her partner, Aaron Dempsey, 32, awoke, it had climbed to 170.
The couple promptly sought medical attention at the international Bangkok Hospital Siriroj in Phuket. There, Ms Carter was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome, a severe and rare form of pre-eclampsia affecting less than one per cent of pregnancies and, according to the charity Action on Pre-eclampsia, impacts the blood and liver and requires urgent medical treatment.
Maddison said she was admitted “straight away” to hospital and placed on multiple drips to get her blood pressure down, before she was told her baby would be born prematurely at 33 weeks – a full-term pregnancy is at least 39 weeks.
By April 3, Maddison said her blood pressure reached 220, and she had to have an emergency caesarean section, before her daughter, Coco, was born and was “whisked” off to a “sick newborn unit”.
Both Maddison and Coco were closely monitored over the next few days, before they were allowed to go home a week after the birth and Maddison said she was on a “silly amount of blood pressure tablets” for a month afterwards.
It was during a follow-up appointment with Maddison’s regular doctor that she was told she had HELLP syndrome and was told the gravity of the situation, including Coco being treated for life-threatening sepsis too.
Maddison said: “I look back and it’s one of those things where I ask myself if it really happened.
“Fortunately, me and Coco are both fine now.
“And hopefully I don’t have to go through that again in any future pregnancies.
“If this story makes a pregnant lady think about the pain in her neck that doesn’t make sense and she goes to get it checked out, I think that’s important.”
Maddison said she and Aaron were “delighted” to find out she was pregnant in September 2024, just two days after his birthday, with the baby due around Maddison’s birthday in May.
But “from the off”, Maddison said she experienced morning sickness, and the duration of her pregnancy was “absolutely awful” with “constant sickness”.
She said: “I remember driving to work and I’d be sick in the car park at school.
“I was not very good at being pregnant… I just felt awful all of the time.”
Maddison had scans every four weeks at the international Bangkok Hospital Siriroj in Phuket, and it was at a scan when she was 22 weeks’ pregnant in January 2025 that she said a doctor first asked if she had pre-eclampsia in her family because her blood pressure was “a little bit elevated”.
It was explained to her that pre-eclampsia is a serious pregnancy condition that causes high blood pressure, but Maddison did not have a family history of it, so she assumed the result was from work stress.
Maddison’s blood pressure continued to be high in follow-up appointments, so she was given medication to temporarily reduce it and was asked to closely monitor it at home.
By the early morning of March 30, Maddison tested her blood pressure and it was 160, increasing by 10 in just a few hours, so she and Aaron went to hospital.
Maddison said she was placed on a drip of magnesium to lower her blood pressure and the treatment made it feel like her body was “cooking from the inside”, before she was told she was having contractions so her baby would be born prematurely.
By March 31, Maddison had to move to a local Thai hospital due to financial constraints and she said she was told it was more “equipped to look after the baby coming early”.
Over the next four days, Maddison was told she had “severe pre-eclampsia”, but doctors would try to keep the baby in until at least April 4, when it would be exactly 34 weeks.
But by late Thursday night, Maddison’s blood pressure was measuring 220 and she said they needed to “get the baby out” urgently.
After signing consent forms – in Thai, not English – Maddison said she had an emergency C-section that Aaron “wasn’t allowed” to attend.
Maddison said: “They pulled Coco out and she started crying.
“(Doctors) kept saying that they were worried about her lungs and I was thinking that if she’s crying, then her lungs are OK.”
Maddison thought she might feel better after the birth but her neck pain persisted, her headache was “excruciating”, her abdomen was “very swollen” and she was struggling to breathe.
Over the next two days, Maddison said she was told she had fluid in her lungs, her liver was “failing” and doctors were worried about blood clots and low platelets, so she had regular blood tests and X-rays to monitor her condition.
The first time Maddison was allowed to see her baby was in the evening on April 6 but she did not realise that this separation was because of her own HELLP syndrome, and also Coco’s life-threatening sepsis.
Maddison said she and Coco were able to go home “after a week” and she was on a “silly amount of blood pressure tablets” for a month.
It was during a routine check-up with her regular doctor at the Bangkok Hospital Siriroj that she found out she had HELLP syndrome.
It stands for Haemolysis (the breakdown of red blood cells), Elevated Liver enzymes and Low Platelet count, according to Action on Pre-eclampsia, who told PA Real Life that it can “quickly become life-threatening for both mother and baby”.
A spokesperson added: “The exact cause isn’t fully understood but it is thought to begin with the placenta.
“Anyone can develop pre-eclampsia but you may be at a higher risk if you: have previously had pre-eclampsia, have (or have had) raised blood pressure, have diabetes, kidney disease or lupus, your mother or a sister had pre-eclampsia, you are having your first baby, you are having twins (or more), and if you have a BMI over 35, or are aged over 40.”
Maddison said: “I just had no clue how dangerous it was.
“I’m still not sure if I’ve processed it because when you’re in it, you just have to deal with it.”
Maddison said she and Coco have “both been given the all-clear” and she is thankful that there is “absolutely nothing wrong” with her daughter.
Doctors recommended that the couple not to have more children because Maddison will be a “high-risk pregnancy”, and while she said they want to try, they will do so in Ireland, where they now live.
Maddison said: “I had no clue what pre-eclampsia or HELLP syndrome were.
“I live healthily, I eat well, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke… so it’s easy to sit there and wonder, why me?
“So increasing awareness is a huge thing because it happens to so many women.”
Maddison is running the 2027 London Marathon for Action on Pre-eclampsia. To donate to her fundraiser, visit her GoFundMe page.
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