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‘Jace’s Journey’: Charlotte mom’s pregnancy complication shines light on racial disparities

CHARLOTTE — It’s an unimaginable loss that thousands of families go through each and every year: losing their baby in childbirth.

One local woman not only lost her baby, but also nearly lost her life after developing serious health problems while pregnant -- problems she thinks could have been prevented.

“I just don’t want anybody else to go through this,” Tomeka Isaac told Channel 9. “This was the hardest thing I ever had to get through.”

“Jace’s Journey” brought Isaac to the brink of heartbreak and advocacy.

“We were both really excited because I was 40 when I got pregnant,” Isaac told reporter DaShawn Brown. “I waited until I got married. We felt like we were in a really good position and my pregnancy was good -- until it wasn’t.”

Thirty-three weeks in, Isaac and her husband Brandon learned something was wrong. It started when doctors said their son, Jace, was smaller than average. They eventually learned that Isaac had a life-threatening syndrome called HELLP, a pregnancy complication affecting the blood and liver.

A few weeks before her scheduled delivery, the symptoms began.

“I felt like I had to use the bathroom. I couldn’t use the bathroom so I ended up throwing up, and once I threw up, I felt fine,” she said.

However, things were not fine. Isaac was rushed to the hospital the next week.

“There was a weird quiet that came over the room. We were kind of uneasy, like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then a doctor came in and said, ‘Your son died in utero.’ We were devastated,” Isaac said.

Doctors told Isaac she was bleeding internally and had a blood clot on her liver the size of a softball.

“And I was dying. My husband was told they did not think I would make it through the night,” she said.

Forty-five days and seven surgeries later, Isaac survived. She only held their son Jace for a few moments and was still in the hospital on the day he was buried.

“And then to wake up and remember, ‘Oh, I’m not going to hear him cry,’ or any of that, and then to be rushed in, that moment would end up being the only moment I would ever have, is really the hardest part of all of this,” Isaac told Channel 9.

She’s sharing her story to spare other families the same pain. Alongside her husband, their nonprofit, Jace’s Journey, is shining the spotlight on racial disparities for pregnant women of color, who are at least three times more likely to die during childbirth.

“Through my whole pregnancy, I never received one urine sample and one of the symptoms of preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome is protein in your urine,” Issac said. “My family, if they weren’t there, I don’t know what I would’ve done. Even for Brandon, because Brandon, he lost his son in a minute, and then the next minute they’re telling him he may lose his wife. So, just the trauma and the impact of having to carry all of that is more than we ever want anybody to go through, which is why we started our nonprofit.”

Jace’s Journey is hosting its annual 5K and Fun Rrun on Saturday, Oct. 23. Some of the proceeds will go towards initiatives like doula support services, training scholarships and maternal health education.

For information on sign-ups, click here.

(WATCH BELOW: Statesville mom still recovering after contracting COVID during pregnancy)