'Pregnancy complication left me fighting for my life'

A folk singer has said she wants to raise awareness of pre-eclampsia after the condition left her and her baby fighting for their lives.

Issy Sylvester said she was "in denial" that anything might go wrong when she was pregnant with her son Lucky at the age of 25.

In 2022, at 33 weeks pregnant, Mrs Sylvester had flown to Nashville, Tennessee, to perform alongside her now-husband Archie Sylvester as folk duo Ferris & Sylvester when she began to throw up.

Sylvester, who lives in Dilton Marsh near Frome on the Somerset and Wiltshire border, initially mistook her symptoms for food poisoning but was later diagnosed with pre-eclampsia before her son was delivered via an emergency caesarean section.

"I was 25, I'd never been seriously ill before," said Mrs Sylvester. "I had been on stage singing the night before. And suddenly there I was, fighting for mine and my child's life in a hospital thousands of miles from home."

Lucky required treatment in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for 19 days and the couple were left with a $200,000 bill which was resolved with insurers nine months later.

On day 10 of Lucky's hospital stay, his parents were married in a nearby park by the hospital chaplain.

"I'll always be grateful to Archie for turning such a difficult, terrible, terrifying situation into something really, really joyful," Mrs Sylvester said.

"I was so grateful to be alive and that Lucky was alive."

The couple, who now have two children, released an EP titled Songs That Saw Us Through in November 2025 to raise money for pregnancy and baby charity Tommy's.

Tommy's is the largest UK charity researching the causes and prevention of pregnancy complications, miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth.

Mrs Sylvester said she "wished we'd known a charity like this existed" when Lucky was born.

"Anyone who's had a premature baby can I'm sure understand and empathise with the fact that it's a very difficult thing to go through," she said.

The duo's EP consists of covers of the songs they listened to when Lucky was in the NICU and has so far raised £2,500 for the charity.

The couple said they wanted to raise awareness of both pre-eclampsia and of the impact premature birth can have as it "never crossed their minds" that something could go wrong.

"We hadn't come out about our story publicly," Mrs Sylvester said. "But we just felt like in order to raise awareness, we needed to be quite open and honest about what happened to us.

"We're so glad that we've done that along with Tommy's," Mrs Sylvester added. "We want our message to be one of hope. Life does continue, life can go on."

Kath Abrahams, chief executive of Tommy's, said the charity was "immensely grateful" to the couple for their support, and for sharing their experience.

"Having a baby prematurely is frightening. It can take a huge toll on parents and children, physically and emotionally," she said.

"Every parent whose baby has spent time in neonatal intensive care will recognise the fear and uncertainty described by Issy and Archie and the ways in which 'normal' life is upended.

"We're funding research into pregnancy complications that can cause premature birth, and into treatments that can prevent it, so that fewer families experience the trauma Issy and Archie have lived through."

Pre‑eclampsia is a condition that affects some pregnant women, usually during the second half of pregnancy (from 20 weeks) or soon after their baby is delivered.

The condition affects 1-5% of pregnancies in the UK and can only be cured by delivering the baby. Expectant mothers with pre-eclampsia will be closely monitored until it is possible to deliver the baby.

According to the NHS, the main signs of pre-eclampsia are high blood pressure and protein in urine. As pre-eclampsia progresses, it may cause:

• severe headaches
• vision problems, such as blurring or seeing flashing lights
• pain just below the ribs
• vomiting
• sudden swelling of the feet, ankles, face and hands

Follow BBC Somerset on Facebook and X. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.