Christina Perri is on a mission to help women avoid the excruciating pain she felt after losing two pregnancies that may have been triggered by a treatable blood-clotting disorder. Her objective? To raise awareness about a blood test that can detect that very same disorder.
In an interview with People, the 35-year-old singer revealed that, months after the loss of Rosie, who was "born silent," she learned about the diagnosis that may have led to the pregnancy loss. Compounding the pain is the fact that the pregnancy loss in November 2020 came 10 months after she had suffered a miscarriage.
"There was so much anger and pain and sadness," she tells People about losing Rosie. "And there were days I couldn't even see a future version of me."
Perri's OB-GYN, Dr. Mary Kerr, told the outlet the blood disorder can be prevented with something as simple as a blood thinner. The singer, who in May announced she's expecting a baby girl, now receives daily injections of the blood thinner Lovenox, but processing the diagnosis, initially, was gut-wrenching.
"Once I processed what she had told me, I was sick to my stomach for weeks," says Perri, whose research on the topic led her to ask why a test to detect the blood disorder isn't offered to all pregnant women.
It turns out, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends the blood test only after two consecutive early pregnancy losses. Perri is determined to change that, and she's petitioning the association of physicians specializing in obstetrics and gynecology to change its protocols so that all women can have access to the test.
"I can't be angry at the doctors because they followed protocol," Perri tells People. "But ACOG has the power to offer that test as part of a parental screening to every woman in her first trimester. This is not about the past for me. It's about saving babies."
Perri's adamant about turning her tragedy "into something beautiful."
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