Krissy Anderson, former Kansas City Chief cheerleader, passed away following the tragic stillbirth of her daughter, Charlotte Willow Anderson. Krissy was only 40, and her husband, Clayton Anderson, is speaking out.
With a tragic loss such as this, it is hard to understand why. We don't typically consider birth dangerous in today's modern world. When a maternal death does occur, we can be struck by the shock of it.
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Clayton told ABC News that the cause of Krissy's death was cardiac arrest caused by sepsis. In the interview, Clayton talks about what happened leading up to and on the day of Krissy's death.
He shared that in November of 2022, Krissy lost her son James to stillbirth. She also had a miscarriage scare a few months before her death. In her 16th week of pregnancy, she had what is called a cerclage procedure. This is when they go in to temporarily sew the cervix closed with stitches. This helps the cervix hold a pregnancy in the uterus.
At 20 weeks, Krissy Anderson was put on bed rest, and on March 16th, she started to feel back pains. They went to the hospital, and the doctor told them that it could be a sign of labor.
By 9 pm that night, they couldn't find the baby's heartbeat. This was when they knew they had lost Charlotte, and soon after, Krissy developed a fever and other signs of sepsis. Her health deteriorated, and she soon after passed away.
In a Good Morning America video, a heartbroken Clayton stated, "She was my world. My best friend and obviously the love of my life and then mother to our children."
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"Sepsis is a serious condition in which the body responds improperly to an infection. The infection-fighting processes turn on the body, causing the organs to work poorly," states the Mayo Clinic.
Clayton speaks out about sepsis and some issues with the maternal health care system. “One of the issues that I guess I have with the system overall is Krystal is 40, and she’s Black, and we’d had a loss before, but even then they say you know, you can’t start a plan with maternal fetal medicine or the high-risk maternity doctors until you get to week 14,” he said in the interview.
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Black women are nearly twice as likely to develop maternal sepsis as white women, according to End Sepsis. It is also 14 times more likely for women who have had a stillbirth to experience sepsis than women who have had a live birth, according to a Stanford Medicine study.
These statistics are quite frightening to think about, and it is important to be made aware of them. What happened to Krissy was truly tragic.
"She would want everything to shine and sparkle and she would want her laughter to be spread," Clayton says of Krissy. "I don't think she wanted to be the person to champion these causes but if she was going to do it, she's going to do it with joy."
We pray for Clayton as he navigates this time after losing Krissy and Charlotte. Losing them was a tragedy, but we know that God is the God of comfort and will be with him and his family through their loss.
"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ." 2nd Corinthians 1:3-5
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h/t: Today
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Good Morning America