I’d climb up a mountain naked for the man who saved our children
FORMeR enGLAnD rugby star Will Greenwood is nominating Mark Johnson, professor of obstetrics at Chelsea and Westminster hospital, London, as his health hero. The consultant cared for Will’s wife, Caro, when their first son, Freddie, died after being born at 22 weeks in September 2002. Will says: IT WAS 9pm and in her hospital bed my wife was sobbing her heart out. She was about to lose our first baby. But one man was there to hold her hand — Professor Mark Johnson.
He is incredibly busy, responsible for well over 50 women at any one time. But he found time to sit silently with Caro, holding her hand as the minutes ticked by.
I had rushed home for a change of clothes and he took over the baton. This kindness, total calmness and compassion would be remarkable in any doctor. But what makes Mark a true hero is that he is also one of the most eminent gynaecologists in the country.
Yet he makes you feel like the only patient on the planet, reassured there is nothing he won’t do — no sacrifice of time or energy. He has only to walk into the room for you to feel all will be well. His calmness is infectious — I honestly don’t think his heart rate ever goes above 20 beats a minute.
I owe him more than I can ever repay. He didn’t just see us through our darkest hours. We now have three healthy children thanks to his remarkable skills.
We got to know him in the most terrible circumstances. When Caro went into premature labour, I was in Leeds so she had to get herself to hospital. We hadn’t met Mark before, but he was on duty at the time.
Freddie was born perfectly formed and heartbreakingly beautiful, and I could see his little chest moving up and down as I cuddled him. But Mark had warned us there was no hope, and he lived for only 45 minutes.
When Caro became pregnant again the following year, she remembered the kind doctor who had sat with her that terrible night, and asked to be referred to him. And when Mark promised that he would be there for her, the stress started to lift.
He saw Caro every week. He suspected she had a genetic condition which he calls ‘cervical weakness’, and was immediately alert when, at 15 weeks, a scan showed that the cervix had started to prepare for birth.
We still hoped for the best but, at 20 weeks, Caro started contractions. It was exactly the time when we had started to lose Freddie, and Caro was immediately admitted to hospital.
To make the situation worse, I was 12,000 miles away in Perth, Australia, playing for England in the World Cup. Over the phone, Mark explained that he wanted to stitch the cervix closed.
He said there was a risk of miscarriage. But, in his totally calm and rational way, he explained it was our best hope.
Afterwards, Caro was taken to intensive care. It was touch and go whether we would lose the baby. Mark gave me his number saying I could ring any time. And every day that week, he gave me frank, precise updates. I will forever be indebted to him for his cool-headed, sensible advice.
Mark had the ability to deliver even the most frightening news truthfully, but in the most reassuring way. I knew Caro and our baby were in the best possible hands.
Most of all, he was there for Caro. He has an almost psychic knack of knowing when he’s needed. She would often wake up and find him sitting beside her. ‘I just popped in to check on you,’ he would smile. Next to me, he was the person she most wanted at her side.
Caro was in hospital for six weeks, and was discharged in time to see us win the World Cup in November 2003. Archie was born safely on January 31, 2004, at 37 weeks. Mark oversaw Caro’s next two births — each time stopping her going into labour early by the same method.
Without Mark we would almost certainly not be parents. That’s why I’m nominating him and why, in August, Caro and I will lead a team of amateurs to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for Borne, a charity founded by Professor Johnson to research complications in pregnancy.
I would do the climb nude if it meant raising more money for him. We will always be in his debt.