Serena Williams turned a frightening childbirth experience into a pointed conversation about women's healthcare. The tennis legend said her ordeal showed her how widespread those struggles had become.
Williams revisited the experience during the Forbes Power Women's Summit on September 10. She also connected her advocacy to motherhood, entrepreneurship and the example she wanted to set for her daughters.
Williams told Forbes Executive Vice President Moira Forbes that she initially misunderstood the scale of the problem. "When I told my story, I didn't realize how many people could relate," she said. "Then I realized it's a women's problem." She later delivered her bluntest punchline about childbirth. "If men were giving birth, they would have sweets [and] like all kinds of medicines," Williams said. She joked that the healthcare problem "wouldn't be the same" otherwise.
The 44-year-old faced life-threatening complications after delivering Alexis Olympia in 2017. Doctors performed an emergency C-section before a coughing fit reopened her wound. Williams previously detailed the ordeal in a 2018 CNN opinion piece. Doctors discovered a large abdominal hematoma before she developed a pulmonary embolism.
The condition triggered a six-day medical battle and multiple surgeries. Williams said her doctor listened when she knew something had gone wrong. "I knew something was wrong with me and it was super important that I was heard," she said. She credited her doctor and nurses with helping save her life.
#problem #doctors #healthcare #ordeal
Williams revisited the experience during the Forbes Power Women's Summit on September 10. She also connected her advocacy to motherhood, entrepreneurship and the example she wanted to set for her daughters.
Williams told Forbes Executive Vice President Moira Forbes that she initially misunderstood the scale of the problem. "When I told my story, I didn't realize how many people could relate," she said. "Then I realized it's a women's problem." She later delivered her bluntest punchline about childbirth. "If men were giving birth, they would have sweets [and] like all kinds of medicines," Williams said. She joked that the healthcare problem "wouldn't be the same" otherwise.
The 44-year-old faced life-threatening complications after delivering Alexis Olympia in 2017. Doctors performed an emergency C-section before a coughing fit reopened her wound. Williams previously detailed the ordeal in a 2018 CNN opinion piece. Doctors discovered a large abdominal hematoma before she developed a pulmonary embolism.
The condition triggered a six-day medical battle and multiple surgeries. Williams said her doctor listened when she knew something had gone wrong. "I knew something was wrong with me and it was super important that I was heard," she said. She credited her doctor and nurses with helping save her life.
#problem #doctors #healthcare #ordeal
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