This is the story of Lauren Przybyl, the FOX 4 Good Day Anchor we all like and how she nearly lost her lifetime to HELLP Syndrome, a life-threatening type of preeclampsia.
Lauren Przybyl
On July 4, 2023, Lauren Przybyl woke up and knew something wasn't right. Together with her 2-year-old Landry with you, Lauren and her husband rushed to the hospital. There, doctors confirmed she had were built with a miscarriage.
A year later, Lauren almost died. Doctors performed an emergency C-section in order to save her life, and her second child, a baby boy she lovingly calls \”Beck Bear,\” was born.
Lauren and that i meet at 11 a.m. on a sunny day in Plano. She opens the door in full makeup; her locks are perfect. Wearing 4-inch black pumps, sleek black pants and a fabulous silk shirt, she's picture perfect and her work day at FOX 4 Good Day is already over.
\”I wake up at 2 a.m.,\” she says. \”I'm at the office by 3 a.m. Sometimes on news scripts until 4 a.m. and then I do my very own hair and makeup. By 4:30 a.m. I'm on air.\” At 10 a.m. she's home and prepared to have an afternoon nap, but for me she manages to stay awake until noon.
Lauren welcomes me into her home like an old friend. We grab a bottle water from the kitchen where I spot a high-chair decorated with blue birthday balloons.
\”Beck just celebrated his first birthday,\” she explains. Beck, who was born 6 weeks premature, recently learned to crawl. \”When my hubby gets home, he scoots right over the house to greet him.\”
Lauren loves as being a mom. Her eyes light up when she talks about how Beck is understanding how to talk, that he's starting to pull himself up, that he's learned to use a sippy cup, and just how much he loves bubbles.
She talks about how Landry, now four, loves her little brother. \”She really helps me out. – She thinks he's her baby.\”
But when I ask, \”Will you've another?\” Her answer is an adamant \”no.\” There's a hint of sadness in her own eyes.
\”When I was pregnant with Beck, I decided to have another one,\” she explains. \”Now, I believe it's more essential for my kids to have their mom than for these to have another sibling.\”
If Lauren has another baby, there's a chance it might kill her. Being pregnant with Beck almost did.
At her 33-week check-up, Lauren's doctor discovered that her blood pressure was abnormally high. Concerned about preeclampsia, a pregnancy condition characterized by high-blood pressure and accountable for 15 % of premature births, Lauren was admitted towards the hospital. After a few times of rest, her blood pressure level returned to normal and she or he was sent home.
However, Lauren was given steroids for helping strengthen her son's lungs \”in case he had to become delivered early.\”
That weekend she continued to rest, but made intends to return to focus on Monday. She periodically checked her blood pressure.
On Saturday night, she awoke. Something was wrong.
\”It was the worst pain of my entire life,\” she says. \”I couldn't move my neck, my back or my shoulders.\” Her blood pressure level was twice what it must have been.
Back at Texas Health Dallas, Dr. Hampton Richards broke the news that her placenta was shutting down and was causing her liver to bleed; the only way to save her lifetime was to deliver Beck early.
\”I asked, 'When?' and that he said, 'We need to do an urgent situation C-section, now.'\”
Lauren had been diagnosed with HELLP syndrome, an uncommon and atypical type of preeclampsia which affects 2 in 1,000 pregnant women. Globally, it has a mortality rate of 25 %.
\”H is perfect for hemolysis which is your red blood cells wearing down,\” Dr. Richards told Lauren on the special segment about her near death experience for FOX 4. \”EL is elevated liver enzymes which is harm to your liver, and LP is low platelets which affects the blood's capability to clot.\”
HELLP syndrome, Lauren says, is often difficult to diagnose. \”Trust your instincts,\” she adds. \”If you think something is wrong, say something-and continue to say something. I've met many women who were told their symptoms were normal, however it turned out they had HELLP.\”
The most typical the signs of preeclampsia are high blood pressure and leaking protein into the urine. However, when a woman has HELLP syndrome, these symptoms may not be present.
\”The trouble with HELLP is it behaves atypically,\” explains Dr. Richards. \”The main things to look out for are headaches, spots inside your vision and pain round the liver, which is your upper right side; it seems like terrible heartburn.\”
Essentially, the placenta begins to break down and begins to get rid of the mother. The only real effective cure is to end the pregnancy-whether the infant is prepared, or otherwise.
In the OR, Lauren's husband, a pediatrician which specializes in sports medicine, attempted to prepare her. \”He told me, 'He's going to be really small. They will need to take him to NICU. He might have trouble breathing.'\”
Around her, Lauren could hear the medical staff preparing themselves. \”They kept saying, 'It's a 34-weeker,' again and again.\”
Lauren centered on Landry. \”As I lay there, I kept considering this blue-eyed, blonde-haired little girl who still needed her mommy.\”
Lauren and her husband heard their son before they saw him. Beck came into the world screaming, \”loud,\” says Lauren. The entire room cheered.
At just 34 weeks, most babies have lungs that aren't yet fully developed. \”My little guy was just 5 lbs, but he never needed oxygen,\” Lauren told her 64,000 Facebook followers.
He being well enough to meet dad and mom before he was come to NICU. \”I gave him a kiss on the cheek,\” Lauren recalls.
While Beck was doing great, Lauren was can not recover. \”I couldn't allow it to be from my room. Each time I would try I'd compare to fainting,\” she says. \”Beck
only agreed to be two floors below me but I couldn't go visit him.\”
But she often see him. Thanks to Peek-a-Boo NICU cameras, Lauren was able to log on and watch Beck whenever she wanted. \”I would wake-up in the center of the night time and merely watch him sleeping. One take a look at his sweet face put me at ease.\”
When Lauren finally ended up getting to go to him, a lot more than Twenty four hours after he was born, she was brought down to the NICU inside a wheelchair.
\”It was 72 hours before I truly reached hold Beck because I am sick with HELLP,\” Lauren says. \”That was the hardest thing I've familiar with my life.\”
Today, Lauren uses social networking and her role with FOX 4 to raise awareness for HELLP syndrome, in addition to miscarriages. When they don't correlate, she's experienced both. \”HELLP is rare, but miscarriage is very common,\” she explains. \”1 in 3 women have a miscarriage; many have multiple losses. Through talking about it, we can help each other.\”
To celebrate Beck's first birthday, Lauren threw a bear-themed party. A small family affair that included Beck's great grandparents – 98 and 90, respectively – everyone enjoyed \”Beck Bear\” cookies and took home a bear-shaped goody bag. For herself, Lauren got mini bundt cakes.
\”Because I survived,\” she says.
Find out much more about preeclampsia and HELLP Syndrome here.