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Home / Lifestyle

Woman's heartache after losing 22 babies - told she's just 'very unlucky'

By Bridie Pearson-Jones
Daily Mail·
17 Mar, 2018 09:07 PM5 mins to read

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A video explaining conception during sexual reproduction.

Kerry Hutchinson has buried three of her babies, held funerals for two, miscarried 16 and has just lost her 22nd child. But doctors say she is healthy - just 'very unlucky'.

Kerry has always dreamed of becoming a mother and has suffered a lifetime of grief and heartache as she desperately strives for a baby.

In a heartbreaking interview, the 35-year-old from Rugeley, Staffordshire tells of her need for answers.

To Kerry's fury, one doctor's letter read "I note you have been unlucky."

Kerry said: "I will never give up trying. I need answers to why all my babies have died."

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Having held her first born girl in her arms for 12 difficult hours before she died, the hope of what may seem to be an unreachable dream has never left Kerry, the Daily Mail reported.

The ex-model and cleaner always longed for a family of her own - and losing her first daughter, Paige, only made her need for a child grow stronger.

"She was a little dot, just 2lb 2oz," recalls Kerry. "My little Paige was born prematurely and passed away at 12 hours old."

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At a post-natal check, doctors investigating the death of Paige found that Kerry had cervical cancer.

"They tried to laser the cancer away, they tried drugs but nothing was working," she says. 'So they removed most of my cervix.'

Doctors told Kerry to keep trying for another baby. They said her reduced cervix wouldn't cause issues with her carrying babies but warned it would start her dilating early as the foetus grew to a certain weight. Any babies would be born prematurely.

She suffered several miscarriages while trying for another baby but was told by doctors that there was nothing wrong.

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"We kept trying for a baby but I just kept losing them early on," she says.

"There was a little boy next, but he died in her womb in the second trimester.

"I refused to give birth to him, knowing he was already gone. It's different to giving birth to the babies who had been alive and who I'd held in my arms."

Fertility treatment was the next option, and proved successful at first.

She became pregnant in just two months.

But when baby Lucas was born at just 22 weeks, doctors could do nothing to save him.

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Graves to two of her babies, Paige and Lucas - Kerry had lost 22 of her babies. Photo / Just giving
Graves to two of her babies, Paige and Lucas - Kerry had lost 22 of her babies. Photo / Just giving

"He took a few breaths and then he passed away," sighs Kerry. "It broke my heart. I was devastated.

"I had a nervous breakdown when I lost Lucas. I didn't expect to bury a third child.

"Losing Lucas is what finished us.

"In eight weeks I'd lost my son, my relationship, my house, my mortgage, my job, my mind - everything just completely fell apart.

"I sat in my room for weeks and nobody asked me if I was OK.

"I literally got up one day and I walked out of the house with just the clothes on my back, and I never looked back, as sad as it is."

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Due to the fact that Kerry had suffered three losses in the second trimester, she was given a trans-abdominal stitch to help prevent pregnancy loss.

"I was only the sixteenth person in the country to have one," she says.

"I hadn't been getting pregnant for a while because my body was doing lots of different crazy things.

"But me and my fiance went to the IVF clinic, and by some miracle I'd managed to get pregnant."

Everything had been going 'brilliantly' according to the midwives and doctors, and they'd seen their baby's heartbeat on four different scans.

"I'd gone in on Monday March 5, as a normal scan date, to be signed off to a different hospital," recalls Kerry.

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"Eleven weeks was the furthest we'd got in four years - but when we got there the baby had no heartbeat. I was admitted to hospital and they tried for three days straight to induce me, but the baby wouldn't come out."

Kerry and partner Connell are now sadly planning what will be Kerry's fourth baby burial. Despite all the trauma and heartbreak she has been through, she refuses to give up her fight for a baby.

"I will be a mum on this earth one way or another," she insists.

Kerry still cherishes the dream of becoming a mother - and has shared her story to show there is always hope.

"Rather than sitting in bed in the hospital, feeling sorry about something I couldn't change, we set up a web page," she says.

"It's called Kerry's dream."

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The Facebook page was launched to raise awareness, and in the hope of helping to fund that dream.

"I want people to know there's people out there who can help," says Kerry.

"You just have to find them - and that's what I'm trying to do."

Having had all the tests possible on the NHS, Kerry is hopeful that an immune test by a reproductive specialist in London will give her some answers and the chance of finally becoming a mother.

"I need to know why all these babies have died," she says. "I grew up in care myself so family is very important to me - it's something I've always wanted to have."

A JustGiving page was set up by a close friend of Kerry's who said: "Losing one beautiful angel may be unlucky, but over 20 needs answers.

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"Let's raise enough money to fund appointments, and possibly the need for IVF, so that Kerry and Connell can get the answers they deserve."

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