A brave mother chose to sacrifice her foot rather than lose her baby after facing the choice between treating an infection or giving birth.
Becky Turner, 32, from Swansea, was eighteen months pregnant when she was faced with a scary decision.
Suffering from an infection in her foot, which had reached the bone, she could no longer take the required medication because she was pregnant.
She had to choose between her baby or her foot.
“It was one or the other, so I had it off”, said Becky.
“For me”, Becky said, amputation “was quite inevitable anyway, so I would have preferred to have it done whilst pregnant when it was safe in the second trimester than possibly having to leave the baby and go into hospital for the first couple of months of her life”.
The amputation was a success, though the road to recovery was long. Looking after a baby, who was born without complication, while healing was a challenge.
“It was quite hard after the amputation”, Becky explains. “It was in the run-up to Christmas… It was a time when I was quite depressed. I didn’t feel like I could be a proper mum. I was stuck in this wheelchair, and I couldn’t do the things I thought I should be doing as a new mum.”
Five months after her baby, Caitlyn, was born, Becky was finally able to take her outside for a walk.
“That was just the best feeling ever.”
Becky has no regrets about her choice. “We made the best decision”, she affirms.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “Becky’s brave sacrifice to save her baby was an inspirational and loving act.
“It is a sign of hope in a world where the lives of babies have been so devalued that the President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Professor Lesley Regan, could say that abortion should be treated no differently from removing a bunion.
“At a time when abortion is seen as routine and motherhood is coming under increasing assault, Becky’s story serves as a powerful reminder of what it means to be a mother.”
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