Calgary woman continues to recover from stroke suffered after giving birth

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

A Calgary woman who suffered a stroke after giving birth recently has made a little progress towards recovery.

Last week, CTV Calgary reported the story of Iffat Shakti, who gave birth to a baby girl in an uncomplicated delivery on June 5.

One week later, she suffered a stroke.

Her medical team believes high blood pressure led to a rare complication postpartum.

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 said 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.

Shakti’s husband Marco Martel, who has been taking care of their three children, including the newborn baby, told CTV News that his wife has opened her eyes, but still hasn’t been very responsive.

He said the doctors say her brain is still swollen, and that he misses her old self.

A GoFundMe campaign to support the family has raised nearly $20,000.

With files from CTV’s Stephanie Thomas