Chelmsford mum who missed baby's birth determined to recover

The couple had been looking forward to having their first baby together

A mum who missed the first six months of her baby's life due to a brain tumour is determined to get better for her daughter, her partner said.

Emma Taylor, 33, from Chelmsford, Essex, was seven and a half months pregnant when she suddenly collapsed in October.

She was in a coma when her baby Ophelia was delivered by emergency C-section.

The dental hygienist is still in hospital and can only communicate by using her hands or nodding.

Her partner Scott Weeks said: "Emma is fully aware of what has happened and, although she struggles to communicate, she's made it clear she is determined to get home to us.

"She really is my inspiration. I can't say in that situation that I would be as driven, motivated and upbeat as she is."

Mr Weeks created a GoFundMe page called "please donate so Emma can come home to be a mum", after being told she would need months of intensive specialist therapies, which the NHS cannot offer.

Emma Taylor was working as a dental hygienist when the incident happened

When his partner collapsed, he was told it would be a four-hour wait for an ambulance, so he drove her to Broomfield Hospital himself, where doctors delivered Ophelia.

"It's a really sad sequence of events that Emma wasn't awake to see the birth of our baby. I need to make sure she doesn't miss out on anything else," he said.

She was then airlifted to Queen's Hospital in Romford in east London where doctors said a tumour had burst causing a brain stem injury and she would need surgery to save her life.

Scott Weeks said he never imagined he would be looking after baby Ophelia without his partner

The operation was a success and they removed most of the tumour, which was found to be non-cancerous. Doctors said she was likely to have had it from birth, with no symptoms.

When Ms Taylor regained consciousness after three months, Mr Weeks had to explain what had happened, as she had no memories of the day.

To start with, she could only communicate through blinking, but has progressed to nodding, using her hands to gesture, and typing out her thoughts on a computer.

"Emma is blind in one eye and struggling with movement on the left side of her body, but she is very alert and aware. She understands everything, but she is almost locked in her body," he said.

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When he takes Ophelia in to see her mother in hospital, she cuddles her and strokes the back of her head, he added.

"Ophelia has just turned six months old and I dream about the day Emma can come home and we can be a proper family together," Mr Weeks said.

"Emma has been cheated out of the most precious thing, and it is a very sad situation.

"But you can't change the past; all I can do is try and change our future."