July 15th was a warm summer day and the first day of 24-year-old Chelsea Scott-Hooks’ maternity leave – an occasion that should have been full of relaxation and excitement for the future. The birth of her baby was only weeks away, and her boyfriend, Jake Knorr, had just closed on a home that their growing family would move into. Of course, she doesn’t remember these details, or what happened next when she went to meet Knorr at their new house.
Jake Knorr, Kaia, and Chelsea Scott-Hooks celebrate the holidays as a happy and healthy family
Scott-Hooks was involved in a fender bender, but the accident was so minor that while the emergency personnel insisted she go to the hospital as a precaution, they allowed Knorr to take her to the hospital of their choice in his own vehicle. They chose Virtua in Voorhees, NJ; Scott-Hooks planned to deliver the baby there in two weeks’ time. A routine ER evaluation soon revealed an unrelated diagnosis of preeclampsia – very high blood pressure which occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy. In order to prevent further complications, the Virtua team decided to induce labor. While this had not been part of the initial plan, their families were excited by the prospect of their newest arrival.
That’s when things started to go wrong – quickly.
When Scott-Hooks went into labor, she became hypoxic, or deprived of adequate oxygen, from an amniotic fluid embolism. She went into cardiac arrest, and while the Virtua team was able to resuscitate her and perform an emergency bedside C-section to deliver the baby, she went into cardiac arrest three more times. She was revived each time, but with fluid filling her lungs and low oxygen, it looked as though she would die.
Baby Kaia was rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit, but Scott-Hooks remained in critical condition. The Virtua team knew the only chance for her survival was to immediately transfer her to PPMC’s Lung Rescue Center.
“I remember the doctors telling me that it wasn’t looking good – we should prepare ourselves for losing Chelsea,” Knorr recalls. “Really the only hope would be to try to get her to Penn for treatment, but we shouldn’t get our hopes up.”
Virtua’s partnership with Penn ensured smooth and clear communication between each hospital, and as soon as it was determined that the overcast skies would prohibit helicopter transport, PPMC’s team was dispatched via ambulance. Upon arrival, they sprung to action, knowing every second counted to keep the young mother alive.
“The team rapidly assessed Chelsea in the intensive care unit and initiated the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (EMCO) treatment. ECMO is a device that temporarily replaces the function of a patient’s poorly functioning lungs while being transported,” said Jacob Gutsche, MD, an assistant professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care. “Ours is the only lifesaving treatment program in the region with 24/7 availability for patients with acute respiratory failure.” Because of its existence, and because of Virtua’s quick recognition of its necessity, “Chelsea made it to PPMC where she began her evaluation, treatment, and recovery from lung and cardiac failure.”
For Knorr, it was a miracle. “They were able to stabilize her,” he said, noting that she made “amazing, crazy good progress” each day.
Following several weeks of intensive life support – including ECMO and therapeutic hypothermia to protect her brain and other organs following cardiac arrest, the care team was able to wean her from her ventilator, and with great help from physical and occupational therapists, it wasn’t long before she was again walking and talking. She doesn’t remember much from the weeks prior to car accident that started it all, but she does recall waking up at PPMC unsure of where she was, but wanting to know about her daughter. Kaia remained at Virtua to recover from delivery complications, but soon enough, the family was reunited.
Nearly six months later, Scott-Hooks is home, caring for her daughter and enjoying her new house and family with Knorr – an outcome that had seemed impossible for a brief but terrifying period of time. Like a well-oiled machine, each component moved quickly and effectively, from the EMTs who suggested she visit the hospital no matter how seemingly minor the accident, to the Virtua care team that balanced delivering a baby with taking decisive action to save a dying mother, to the PPMC team who swooped in as soon as they were called and ultimately saved a life. While Scott-Hooks continues memory rehab, she is thankful every day for the care that she and her daughter received and for the chance to build a new life.