After ex-Chiefs cheerleader died in pregnancy, spouse shines light on maternal health crisis

Krystal Anderson wanted to be a mother.

The former Chiefs cheerleader had already accomplished so much in her life, including establishing a career as a software engineer at Oracle. She also worked on women’s health solutions and was involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters, KC Stem Alliance, and taught yoga.

But, as her husband Clayton Anderson recently shared with advocates fighting maternal mortality in Kansas City, she also shared some attributes in common with the thousands of woman who die each year due to complications from pregnancy and childbirth.

“She was 40. She was Black. We’ve had a stillborn already. It’s the definition of high risk,” said Anderson, who’s now advocating for women’s health and systemic change for maternal health.

In March, Anderson lost his wife Krystal to sepsis, following the stillbirth of their daughter, Charlotte. Their first child, James, also died from stillbirth.

It was a heartbreaking end to a journey they’d embarked on with so much hope.

When Anderson and his wife found out they were pregnant again, it was one day before what would have been James’ first birthday. Anderson said, “it was a little sign from God.”

But by her sixteenth week of pregnancy, doctors saw that Krystal’s cervix was shortening, her husband said, leading them to perform a cerclage procedure, where a stitch is placed around the cervix to reduce the risk of preterm labor. Following the procedure, her scheduled appointment for week 18 was canceled. Doctors didn’t think it was necessary since she had just had the procedure.

At her week 20 check-up, an anatomy scan was done and the couple were overjoyed that their baby girl was doing great. But the maternal fetal doctor told them that the cerclage hadn’t been effective, and amniotic membrane was coming through her cervix.

Their only option, they were told, was to wait it out in hopes of making it to 22 weeks of pregnancy. Four days later, Krystal wasn’t doing well, so they went to the emergency room. Upon arrival, medical staff told them it was probably contractions due to dehydration. But a couple hours later, they checked for the baby’s heartbeat, and couldn’t find it.

“We found out that we had lost our baby girl,” Anderson said, adding the couple couldn’t understand why, after following all medical advice, this had happened again.

After their loss, he said Krystal was still not doing well. He said she was seeing spots, had a fever, and showed signs of sepsis, a severe body infection that leads to poor organ function.

She was immediately sent to the operating room to remove the fetus from her womb, but she suddenly went into septic shock. Hours later, Krystal Anderson came out of the operating room on a ventilator and a dialysis machine due to kidney, liver, and lung failure.

After days in the intensive care unit and more medical procedures, Anderson said his wife started to further deteriorate. On March 20, she died.

Anderson shared his story with community members at the Kansas City Health Department policy summit on maternal health Tuesday. Others who have also been touched by this problem, including Dr. Kirsten Brown Persley and Tami Vang, also shared their personal experiences of maternal health issues.

The summit focused on addressing the maternal health crisis in Kansas City. It provided an opportunity for community members and the Kansas City Health Department to come together and find solutions to reduce high risk rates of maternal morbidity and mortality and improve maternal health outcomes.

It’s a problem with alarming statistics in Missouri.

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Missouri’s maternal mortality report between 2018 and 2020 shows that 70 women died while pregnant or within one year of their pregnancy each year. The year 2020 was the highest, with 85 deaths. Missouri ranks 44 in the nation for maternal mortality rates.

In Missouri, Black women are three times more likely to die within a year of pregnancy than white women.

It’s been found that 84% of pregnancy-related deaths were deemed preventable, and many people believe that further action could be taken to reduce these tragic outcomes.

Tuesday’s summit marked the first of many such gatherings, where community members and healthcare professionals will gather to analyze maternal health data and trends, and help develop comprehensive policy solutions to prevent mothers and children from dying.

For Clayton Anderson, it’s a chance to not only support this effort, but also to honor his late wife and children.

“We have to do better for our moms and for our babies, it’s not just the one person that the statistic touches, it’s husbands, mothers, sisters, fathers, friends,” Anderson said.

This story was originally published June 14, 2024 at 12:42 PM.