Calgary mom of three in ICU after suffering stroke shortly after giving birth

A Calgary mother of three still has not regained consciousness after suffering a stroke just days after she gave birth.

A Calgary woman hasn’t regained consciousness after a rare blood pressure complication about a week after giving birth contributed to a stroke.

Now, her husband is reaching out for support as he wrestles with the unknowns—all while caring for their two sons and newborn daughter.

Iffat Shakti, 28, gave birth to a baby girl named Julia on June 5 in an uncomplicated delivery.

On June 12, Shakti suffered a stroke.

Doctors performed a craniotomy brain surgery, but she still hasn’t woken up.

“She’s under a lot of sedation and a lot of medicine to keep her paralyzed, pretty much,” said her husband, Marco Martel.

He says her medical team believes high blood pressure led to a rare complication postpartum.

“Sometimes the neurological tests (are) good. Other times it’s bad,” said Martel.

Shakti remains in the intensive care unit at Foothills Medical Centre.

Most of her family is in her home country, Bangladesh.

Martel cannot work as he tends to his wife and cares for their three-year-old and one-year-old boys and newborn daughter.

He set up a GoFundMe page to help the family get by as they wait for the medical team to update them.

“We don’t even know what quality of life she will have. She might not be able to walk or talk,” said Martel.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation says women are at higher risk of stroke in pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

“The average rate of stroke in pregnancy is less than one per cent. In fact, less than 0.1 per cent; however, what we see is it’s much more common in people who have had high blood pressure during pregnancy,” said Dr. Kara Nerenberg, mid-career women’s heart and brain health research chair.

Nerenberg is also an internal medicine specialist and associate professor at the University of Calgary.

She says blood pressure readings are crucial during delivery and six weeks postpartum but adds the risk of stroke and heart conditions can continue later in life.

“We know we need to do better at a health-system level to have programs to better support home blood pressure monitoring for patients,” said Nerenberg.

Martel doesn’t want any other family to go through what his is.

“No matter what, because I’m her husband … whatever the situation is, I’m going to still keep her alive and be by her side. And make sure she at least gets to see her kids grow.”

The Heart and Stroke Foundation says shortness of breath, vision changes and headaches are symptoms to watch out for.

More information can be found at https://www.heartandstroke.ca/women.