Pictured: Katrina Krakowska with daughters Vanessa and baby Kaya
A Lancashire mum whose blood type conflicted with her babies leading to them needing lifesaving treatment has praised medical staff at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust for saving both her children.
Katrina Krakowska, 32, who lives in Colne, has daughters Vanessa, eight and baby Kaya who was born on Valentine’s Day this year.
Both children had to have urgent care and treatment at the Burnley General Teaching Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) as there was a blood conflict leading to Katrina’s blood cells developing antibodies that attacked her babies’ blood cells causing jaundice.
Katrina says first daughter Vanessa was nursed back to health from the life threatening condition after developing serious jaundice.
Vanessa was even given an exchange transfusion, a procedure where all the blood is slowly removed and replaced with fresh donor blood.
Vanessa is now a healthy eight-year-old but when mum Katrina had baby Kaya, she faced the same blood conflict problem.
However, Katrina says after the positive experience she had with Vanessa’s care and treatment, she had every faith in the team at East Lancashire Hospital’s and knew Kaya would be in the best of hands.
And she was reassured further when she recognised doctors who had cared for her first daughter including Dr Naharmal Soni who Katrina has hailed as her hero.
Katrina, who lives with partner Daniel Wilkinson and was working as a domestic assistant in a care home before having Kaya, explained: “Both my daughters have been in NICU and cared for by Dr Soni and he is my biggest hero.
“Eight years ago, they saved my first daughter and now the team at NICU are caring for my second baby. They are all amazing.”
Katrina’s first daughter Vanessa was born full-term eight years ago weighing almost 10lbs.
However, soon after her birth, Katrina realised her daughter’s skin was changing colour and alerted a midwife.
Katrina recalled: “A few hours after Vanessa was born, I realised her skin was changing to orange, then brown.
“She looked like she had a dark tan and I remember thinking: ‘something is definitely wrong.’
“I asked the midwife to have a look at her and she realised Vanessa had very severe jaundice and took her for light therapy and took blood samples.”
Phototherapy is used to reduce high bilirubin levels that cause jaundice in a newborn.
The baby is exposed to a type of fluorescent light that is absorbed by their skin. During this process, the bilirubin in the baby’s body is changed into another form that can be more easily excreted.
A baby with jaundice may need to stay under a phototherapy light for several days.
Specialists realised Katrina and Vanessa had a blood conflict and as a result, Katrina’s body was producing a lot of antibodies which were destroying Vanessa’s red blood cells.
Vanessa was born at Burnley Hospital and at the time, the NICU unit was based at Royal Blackburn Hospital so Vanessa was taken there for treatment.
It was here that Katrina first encountered Dr Soni. She remembers: “Dr Soni took us to a private room and explained everything really well.
“He told us about the blood conflict and explained that Vanessa needed a full exchange and told us about the risks and we were warned Vanessa had a 50/50 chance.
“Luckily, everything was fine and Vanessa had her blood taken out and was given a full blood exchange transfusion.
“Vanessa spent about eight days after the transfusion in NICU and remained on light therapy for about a week.
“Everything went well and she recovered wonderfully.
“When we left hospital, Vanessa was clear of jaundice and the antibodies that kept destroying her blood.
“For two-and-a-half years, she was under the care of Dr Soni and had regular check-ups.
“Vanessa is now eight and doing brilliantly. She is a very happy, excited and energetic girl and she loves school, dancing and swimming.”
When Katrina became pregnant with Kaya, she had extra scans and tests to prepare for the blood conflict and prevent the antibodies.
At about 33 weeks of pregnancy, Katrina even went to Liverpool for her baby to be given a blood transfusion even before birth.
Katrina explains: “Kaya had a blood transfusion even before she was born as they did it through the umbilical cord.
“I was watching it on the screen and we could see the blood flowing through the cord. It was very unusual and amazing.”
Baby Kaya had to be induced at 35 weeks and was born at Burnley General Teaching Hospital on February 14 weighing 5lbs 10oz.
Kaya was given immunoglobulin to help her recover and has had a few blood transfusions and was given light therapy.
Kaya is now having regular blood tests to monitor her progress and Katrina says the excellent care she received with Vanessa made her feel confident and secure about Kaya’s future.
Katrina says: “When I went to NICU at Burnley with Kaya, I remembered Dr Soni and some of the other doctors such as Dr Kumar and Dr Patel from when Vanessa was born.
“This reassured me and made me feel confident that Kaya would be okay as I knew she would be in safe hands and get the best possible care.
“When I saw Dr Soni, I started crying as I felt so happy. I told him he is my biggest hero as I appreciate everything he has done so much.
“Dr Soni deals with babies and parents in a wonderful manner. He explains things very well and is very caring and is genuine and shows real emotion.
“Other doctors in NICU such as Dr Kumar are the same and all the staff in NICU are amazing and do a wonderful job.
“The nurses are like mothers to the children and do everything they can to make them better.
“They are not just doing a job but truly care. To me, they are all like angels.
“The care we have had has been brilliant and I am so grateful for the way they have saved both my daughters’ lives.”
Dr Naharmal Soni, consultant neonatologist at NICU based on the site of Burnley General Teaching Hospital, said: “We all have different blood groups and within that, we have a positive and a negative.
"If the mum's blood group is O and the baby's is an A or B, then that can sometimes have a conflict.
"The mother's blood being negative and the baby's being positive can also have a conflict.
"All red cells have protein on their surface called antigens. Sometimes they create various antibodies and that can have a conflict with the baby's red cells.
"Katrina had both the O and the A issue and the antigen conflict.
"Because of the conflict, the red cells in the baby get destroyed earlier than their normal life.
"They release this material bilirubin and this causes them to be jaundiced.
"In high levels, it can go to the brain and cause brain damage.
"That's why we treat them quickly and treat them with lights.
"If things don't get under control, we exchange the baby's blood.
"With Katrina's first baby Vanessa, we had to exchange her blood.
"With timely blood exchange, we prevented the jaundice going to the brain so there was no damage.
"With Katrina’s second baby Kaya, medical advances in the last eight years and better lights meant Kaya needed lots of lights to control the jaundice and blood transfusions rather than an exchange transfusion which is riskier.
"Once we slowed down the rate of destruction of red cells, then Kaya was on the road to recovery.
"It was pleasing to have the mum recognise me after a gap of eight years. It is rewarding to hear how much trust and faith Katrina has in me.
"It is things like this that make the job so worthwhile, satisfying and rewarding.