Miranda is not just an AFE survivor. This courageous woman started the AFE Foundation, enlisted a team of top medical experts, and in just 6 short years has served over 300 families worldwide.
Below are some highlights from our recent tweetchat. It’s a bit lengthy to post here, so if you want the whole story click here.
You can join me on Twitter at @StephArnold37; Miranda’s Twitter handle is @AFEFOUNDATION. Join us on future tweetchats by following Twitter hashtag: #AFEchat. All my social channel links – Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, etc. – can be found here, or in this blog’s sidebar menu.
Tweetchat Excerpts
Stephanie: What was the most shocking thing you found in your research?
Miranda: The most shocking thing was to learn women were still dying in childbirth in the US; also that AFE is so poorly understood. I felt it was our mission to build awareness.
Stephanie: What has been the feedback from survivors and bereaved families?
Miranda: It has been incredible. We get to walk with families in their time of greatest need and give them the support and answers they need. We are also giving the moms we have lost to AFE a voice, and their families an opportunity to create a legacy for them. Sharing our stories is empowering and part of the healing process. It also opens up the dialogue.
Stephanie: What has been a common theme from families in need of the foundation’s help?
Miranda: Support. Knowing they are not alone. Having a place to share their unique experience in a safe place, guided by experts.
Stephanie: What do you say to families of victims of this horrible condition?
Miranda: Those are the hardest conversation. I share with them that we’re fighting for the answers they deserve and that we will not forget.
I conclude here as I often do, with this personal advice to all, based in part on the important role that my own self-advocacy, and the incredible support from my husband and my medical team, played in my survival: If you sense something, say something.
Until next time, feel free to Follow me on Twitter at @StephArnold37 to learn about upcoming tweetchat summaries, stories from other moms and families, and other resources. Or just subscribe to this blog. Either way, thanks!
Spanish 
English
5 Comentarios.
[…] every one of the doctors, health care workers, friends, family, and my husband for saving my life. Miranda Klassen has created the AFE foundation because unfortunately, she experienced her own AFE, but […]
[…] company of some brilliant medical professionals, researchers, and of course their energetic founder Miranda Klassen. Herself an AFE survivor like […]
[…] Miranda Klassen founded the AFE Foundation after having her own AFE 6 years ago. She has been instrumental in giving suffering families resources. She been the point person to help families in need, and she is the one they call when they need answers. And now, with the advent of social media, the Amniotic Fluid Embolism discussion group on Facebook has amassed hundreds of survivors and families of loved ones who lost their lives. We now have peer-to-peer support on topics you can’t even imagine you would ever discuss after experiencing an AFE. For instance, one woman was diagnosed with Sheehan syndrome, (a condition that can occur in a woman who bleeds severely during childbirth. Sheehan syndrome is a type of hypopituitarism). She was diagnosed 10 years AFTER her AFE. That put all of us on notice to go get tested. And it is another reality we will have the possibility of dealing with after surviving. But we would never have that information or this group unless the media did what they are doing with Ruby’s story today. […]
[…] a plan B into action on the off chance she was going to have an AFE. Dr. Levitt helped and so did Miranda Klassen. It turned out to be a “False Alarm” and she was fine, but it made me acutely aware […]
[…] to be the best I can be every day. He does that for me and much more. I want to be more like Miranda, who probably doesn’t know I feel this way, but I am in awe of her strength and her drive. […]