‘Lucky’ mum backs project to beat fatal pregnancy problem

“I know now that both Nancy and I were lucky to escape the devastating consequences of severe pre-eclampsia. This study has the potential to eliminate that element of luck.” About 1,000 babies in the UK a year die as a result of complications from pre-eclampsia including early delivery.

The condition can affect healthy women who may initially appear to have no symptoms, so it is often not picked up until later in pregnancy.

It was only at 26 weeks that Ms McEntee began to feel unwell and doctors discovered her blood pressure had soared. Nancy was born on Valentine’s Day this year and spent more than three months in hospital although she has made a full recovery.

Conceive will chart pregnancy from conception right through to birth and aims to recruit 600 women aged 18 to 44 who are planning to start a family.

Dr Lin Foo, clinical research fellow at Imperial College’s surgery and cancer department who will be running Conceive, said: “This is a unique project. By charting pregnancy from the very start and in such detail, we hope to identify factors that may be associated with the development of this disorder.”