NEW YORK – Gigantic successful tennis player, one of the best in history. Titles from everywhere, an icon also thanks to the inseparable bond of sisterhood with the older Venus.
Serena Williams, a literal living legend of the beautiful white sport, retired from the courts in September 2022 and is now enjoying the position of a mother, as she raises her five-year-old daughter, Olympia. However, not everything was so simple. The native of Saginaw admitted in an interview with CNN that her cesarean birth in 2017 was accompanied by enormous difficulties and it was not certain that she would even survive. At least that’s what her words sounded like.
“After giving birth, I almost died. I still consider myself a happy person. The birth triggered a series of health complications, after which I am glad to be alive. First of all, the healed wound from the caesarean section opened due to an intense cough, I suffered from it during the embolism.
I returned to the operating room and the doctors found a huge hematoma, a swelling of clotted blood, in my abdomen. And then I underwent a procedure that prevents the clots from traveling to the lungs,” said the American woman in an open interview.
42-year-old Serena was a fighter on the tennis courts, she always experienced matches and put all possible emotions into them – joy, sadness, anger. Now she had to fight again, because after returning home from the hospital, her health problems continued.
“When I returned home to my family, I had to spend the first six weeks of my maternity leave bedridden. I am grateful that I had an incredible team of doctors and nurses around me in the most modern hospital. They knew how to behave in such a complicated situation. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be here today” continued the winner of a total of 39 Grand Slam titles in singles and doubles.
Williams is a proud African-American and in the interview she also compared that black American women do not receive adequate health care in the US, especially those from poorer states and nations who do not have access to first-class conditions due to their poor financial situation.
Photo gallery (2) Serena Williams saying goodbye Source: SITA/AP/John Minchillo
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black women in the United States are three times more likely to die from causes related to pregnancy or childbirth.” Serena clarified. “But it’s not just a challenge in the United States, in the world, thousands of women struggle to give birth in the poorest countries.”
“Even before they bring new life into the world, the cards are stacked against them. Such a world is possible. And we must dare to dream it for every black woman, for every woman in Malawi, and for every mother out there. Together, we can make this change. Together we can be the change” added Michigan native Serena Jameka Williams.
- Author: © List/Ondrej Herceg
- Source: Sports, CNN, tennisupdate.com
