Her name was Mireille, but everyone called her “Mimi”. Aged 36, this Burkinabè, pregnant with triplets, breathed her last at the Nancy-Brabois CHRU on the morning of January 26. “His death could have been avoided,” says her husband Marc. Through this strong testimony, the Moselle also wants to send a message: “The medical profession must be listened to”.
“We were planning”
Mireille and Marc met twelve years ago in Burkina Faso. He, the Moselle, arrives in Africa to work in the mining sector. She, a waitress in the Italian restaurant opposite, charms him in spite of herself with her big, beautiful smile. “That’s how I want Mireille to be remembered, smiling and even laughing”.
The couple get married and think about becoming parents. After five attempts at IVF in a clinic in the capital Ouagadougou, Mireille becomes pregnant with triplets. We are in August. “We were planning. Having many children in Africa is a real joy. »
The first weeks of pregnancy pass without a hitch. “She was eating like 4! », continues Mark. The belly of the thirty-year-old begins to round up very quickly. “At 4 months, you could think she was 7 months pregnant. »
Christmas is coming. Head to the Moselle for the end-of-year celebrations. The couple consults a gynecologist from the Nancy maternity ward. “At the ultrasound, we are told that they are three little girls. This is also where we are first uttered the term pre-eclampsia and told that the risk of viability is low. It’s the shock. A clap of thunder in a blue sky. »
Pre-eclampsia, what is it?
“A clap of thunder in a blue sky”, say the doctors of this disease. According to health insurance, pre-eclampsia is a disease of pregnancy that combines high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine. It results from a dysfunction of the placenta. In 1 out of 10 cases, a severe form occurs, explains for its part the Inserm. The only way to save the mother is then to extract the fetus and its placenta, whether the fetus is already viable or not.
She is dissuaded by those around her
You have to quickly make a decision: keep the little ones, stop the heart of one of the three, or stop the pregnancy. “It was inconceivable for her to kill her little ones that she felt in her belly. I didn’t want to lose my wife. I understand then that stopping everything is the safest option. »
But “Mimi” wants to hang on despite the dissuasion of those around her. She leaves the clinic against medical advice and takes a plane to Burkina Faso, where she is hospitalized in continuous care. His condition worsens. The 30-year-old returns to France, to Nancy, when she caught dengue fever.
On January 25, no more babies are alive. Childbirth is triggered. Mireille leaves urgently for Brabois, a few kilometers away.
Marc is on a plane returning from Rwanda, where he works. Between two stopovers, he is told that his wife’s chances of survival are slim. She dies early in the morning. “I felt guilty. If she had not returned to Burkina Faso, there is a possibility that she would still be alive…”, regrets the forties.
All the administrative hassles follow. The body is not repatriated to its country of origin until a few weeks later. “It’s a preventable and stupid death,” he insists. “This disease comes without warning. I went from joy to complete and utter despair. You really have to listen to the doctors. They experienced all of this as a mess”, concludes Marc, of immense courage, who is trying to rebuild himself, surrounded by his loved ones.
