Serena Williams Shares Her Life-Threatening Childbirth Experience: “I Almost Died After Giving Birth To My Daughter”

Just five months after the birth of her precious baby girl, Serena Williams is opening up about the life-threatening experience.

In a piece published by CNN, Williams shared the effects of a pulmonary embolism that sparked a “slew of health complications that I am lucky to have survived.” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

“I almost died after giving birth to my daughter, Olympia,” Williams said. “Yet I consider myself fortunate.”

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

“While I had a pretty easy pregnancy, my daughter was born by emergency C-section after her heart rate dropped dramatically during contractions,” she said, adding that things took a turn for the worse just 24 hours after giving birth.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

“It began with a pulmonary embolism, which is a condition in which one or more arteries in the lungs become blocked by a blood clot,” Williams said. “Because of my medical history with this problem, I live in fear of this situation. So, when I fell short of breath, I didn’t wait for a second to alert the nurses.”

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

“First my C-section wound popped open due to the intense coughing I endured as a result of the embolism,” Williams continued. “I returned to surgery, where the doctors found a large hematoma, a swelling of clotted blood, in my abdomen.”

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

The procedure left Williams bedridden for the first six weeks of motherhood. But, ultimately she recovered and she is “so grateful” to have had “access to such an incredible medical team of doctors and nurses at a hospital with state-of-the-art equipment.”

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black women in the U.S. are more than three times more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes, CNN reports. As a result, Williams has encouraged the public to demand change within the government, businesses and healthcare providers.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

“Together, we can make this change. Together, we can be the change,” Williams said.