A Utah family is grieving the loss of a young mother, who died of a heart problem days after Christmas and just over a week after giving birth to twins.
Morgan Aubrey Hughes, 23, died Dec. 28 at Utah Valley Hospital in Provo after welcoming a son, Hudson Samuel Hughes, and a daughter, Georgia Elise Hughes, with her husband, Samuel Craig Hughes, also 23, on Dec. 19.
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The couple got married in 2023.
“It just doesn’t feel real,” Samuel told KSL-TV 5 in a joint interview with his late wife’s siblings.
a person in a hospital bed — picture.
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“Morgan was amazing. She was the best wife, the best daughter and no one loved her more. She loved her Savior, Jesus Christ and we will do our best to honor her with our faith in Christ. The only choice is to believe in the afterlife, otherwise there is no hope.”
In a separate interview with NBC News published Friday, Jan. 3, Morgan’s father, Brian Hodson, explained that his daughter’s birth went “extremely smoothly” before she started feeling sick a few days later.
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After vomiting and passing out, she returned to the hospital where she was diagnosed with postpartum cardiomyopathy, also known as peripartum cardiomyopathy.
John Hopkins Medicine defines the rare condition as one that “begins sometime during the last month of pregnancy to about five months after delivery, without any other known cause.”
“It was devastating. We certainly didn’t expect this at all,” continued her father.
According to the American Heart Association, postpartum cardiomyopathy can be difficult to detect because “it can mimic pregnancy, such as shortness of breath and swelling of the feet and legs.”
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a person in a hospital bed — picture.
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Hodson said Morgan’s dream was to become a mother.
“She always wanted to be a mom and she loved babies forever,” he said. “She was known as a baby whisperer, even when she was young.”
“That’s all she ever wanted in life, was to be a mum,” added Hodson. “She would love them more than anything.”
On a GoFundMe account organized by the Lone Peak Fire Association, whose father is a captain, Morgan was remembered as “a kind and loving soul whose greatest joy was becoming a mother.”
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The twins, who were born prematurely, remain in intensive care at Utah Valley Hospital but are expected to be home later this month.
Samuel visits the newborns twice a day and says that caring for them has kept him going.
“Gemini is where I feel my peace that she is there. She helps the twins,” he said.
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Source: HIS Education