Mum welcomes research centre after experiencing three miscarriages

Doctors, researchers and their teams from University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and the University of Warwick have been selected to be partners in The National Early Miscarriage Centre funded by the leading pregnancy charity, Tommy’s.

It will be the largest of its kind in Europe.

The National Early Miscarriage Centre will help patients like new Mums Nicola from Warwickshire who suffered the heartbreak of losing three pregnancies in just 18 months before Professor Quenby and her team based at University Hospital, Coventry were able to give her hope.

Nicola took part in a ground breaking research trial to test a new medication which could help her to have a healthy pregnancy.

Nine months later, in June 2015 Nicola and her husband Ryan welcomed baby Isabella to the world.

It is hoped that thousands more women, just like Nicola who suffer from early miscarriage, will benefit from the world class research taking place in Coventry including new trials like scratching the lining of a women’s womb to help improve the chances of embryos implanting and a trial of a diabetes drug which is hoped can help women who have had five or more miscarriages.

There are approximately 250,000 miscarriages every year, with about one in three women experiencing recurrent miscarriages.

Nicola said: “We started to think that we were never going to have a family, but the trial gave us hope and we decided to give it one last go. I’m so glad we did, and without Professor Quenby and the fantastic midwives, chances are I wouldn’t be a mum. I can’t thank them enough for everything they did for us and hope that more women who think there is no hope, give it one last try and take advantage of this fantastic team right here on our door step in Coventry.”

Professor Quenby said: “I am thrilled that we were able to help Nicola and Ryan and it is this combination of world class research and care that we will be able to do more of, now we have the support of Tommy’s. For patients, this means we will mean we will be able to offer more new treatments for miscarriage and greater understanding of why it happens to some women more than others. It means that we will be able to offer hope for women like Nicola.“

Jane Brewin, CEO of Tommy’s said, “Medical science doesn’t fully understand miscarriage which is why funding and research is so critical. Through pioneering medical research, Tommy’s clinicians will save babies’ lives by turning their discoveries into screening tests and treatments and launch clinics for pregnant women who are most at risk, giving them the latest improvements in care. They’ll share their work in national clinical guidelines, preventing miscarriages and developing better care across the country. Through the National Early Miscarriage Centre we’ll raise the profile of early miscarriage research, and encourage other organisations to invest and help break the silence around miscarriage. To help make it a priority for the government, the team will highlight the economic cost for the NHS. They’ll also grow and lead a network of specialists, and work closely with other Tommy’s centres and researchers across the UK and internationally.”

The research centre, which will open on April 1, will have three sites at University Hospital in Coventry, University of Birmingham and Imperial College, London.