A mum who died a week after giving birth, due to complications from a rare blood type

A devoted mother died a week after a caesarean section.

Maria Dunsin, 40, became fatally ill after giving birth to her second child, Troy, at St Mary’s Hospital on April 29 last year.

Now, an inquest into her death has heard how a condition triggered a series of tragic health complications that have left her husband, Kayode Dunsin, to bring up their two young sons alone.

Mr Dunsin, a 47-year-old software analyst, from Chadderton, is determined some good should come of her death.

On the day his wife died she spent hours waiting for a blood transfusion because her blood type is so rare there are only three donors in the country.

Now Mr Dunsin has spoken of his loss to the Manchester Evening News, in the hope more people with rare blood types will donate.

Maria Dunsin was admitted to the hospital for a c-section at 33 weeks after suffering bleeding, and then developed complications which led to an attack known as a ‘sickle cell crisis.’

This led to a condition called ‘acute chest syndrome’ - the leading cause of death for people with sickle cell disease.

Because of the rarity of Mrs Dunsin’s blood type there was a delay in getting the blood to her, as it had to come from Liverpool and was also frozen – however, this did not affect the eventual outcome, the Coroner Jean Harkin ruled.

“Although obtaining blood was very difficult, ultimately it did not impact upon her death,” the coroner said. “She did not at any time receive incompatible blood.”

A further complication arose from the fact that Mrs Dunsin had been given a transfusion following the birth of her first child in 2011.

This had caused antibodies to develop in her blood that would affect any future pregnancy, but this information was not communicated to her.

Her husband, Kayode Dunsin, is now bringing up their two children – Troy, 20 months, and Tyrese, six – alone, and says he wants to raise awareness of how rare some blood types are.

Last week Manchester Blood Donor Centre launched an urgent appeal for donors with B negative and O negative blood to come forward after stock was affected by the bad weather.

• For more information about becoming a donor visit blood.co.uk or call 0300 123 23 23.