Ebola nurse’s mini miracles
Joy for 43-year-old medic Pauline, who TWICE battled horror disease, as she gives birth to twin boys
CUDDLED up beside each other in adorable, patterned baby grows, these two tots are the picture of health.
Little could they know the battle their mother waged against a deadly infection in the years before they were born.
Their 43-year-old mother is Pauline Cafferkey, who twice fought off ebola after working as a volunteer in Sierra Leone, where an epidemic killed almost 4,000 people, in 2014.
The boys’ father, Robert Softley Gale, a theatre director and disability campaigner, announced the news of their birth by posting an image of the newborns on Instagram.
In a delighted message, he wrote: ‘Hello world. Meet these two amazing boys. Born at 10.05 and 10.08 this morning – 5lb 14oz and 5lb 8oz. Mum and boys doing brilliantly. Names to follow.’
The babies were born at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital on Tuesday.
Following the birth, Miss Cafferkey, said: ‘I would like to thank all the wonderful NHS staff who have helped me since I became ill in 2014 right through to having my babies this week.
‘This shows that there is life after ebola and there is a future for those who have encountered this disease.’
On Wednesday, Mr Gale posted another happy photograph of himself with the twins along with a message which read: ‘Hello y’all. We’ve no idea who the guy holding us is but he seems to think we’re the best birthday present ever.’
Miss Cafferkey, a nurse for 16 years, almost died after being infected while volunteering with the charity Save the Children at an ebola treatment centre in Sierra Leone in 2014. She returned to Britain on December 28 of that year for a planned break but fell seriously ill shortly after arriving back and was diagnosed with the illness. The medic spent almost a month in an isolation unit.
In 2016, she was cleared of misconduct by the Nursing and Midwifery Council over allegations relating to her arrival in the UK while she was in the early stages of her infection.
Following her initial recovery, Miss Cafferkey, of Glasgow, suffered a series of further health scares due to the effects of the disease. She faced complications in February 2016, and could be seen in an isolation tent as she was flown to hospital.
Mr Gale is gay, with reports stating he is understood to be in a long-term relationship.
He made the headlines in 2014 when celebrations for his birthday were cut short after he was refused entry to the Polo Lounge gay venue, in Glasgow, over an access issue. He subsequently won a discrimination case.
A spokesman for Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital said: ‘We are pleased to confirm, on behalf of Pauline Cafferkey and her partner, that she gave birth on Tuesday to healthy twin boys at a maternity unit within Greater Glasgow. Both mother and babies are doing well.
‘No further details of the birth will be issued and we would appeal to the media to respect Pauline’s wish for her family’s privacy.’
More than 11,000 people died as ebola took hold across the West African region between 2013 and 2016. The outbreak of the disease was thought to have started in Guinea and a handful of cases were treated in the UK.
In 2017, Miss Cafferkey made an ‘emotional’ return to Sierra Leone, where she had caught the virus.
During that visit she was reunited with orphans she had
‘Best birthday present ever’ ‘My body was destroyed’
treated and completed a 10k run to raise funds for the UK-based charity Street Child, which helps youngsters affected by the ebola epidemic.
Speaking to the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire prior to her return to the country, she said it was ‘psychologically important’ to go.
She added: ‘My body was destroyed. It’s been a long, slow process and I’m still healing.’
After the trip, Miss Cafferkey discussed the significance of returning to the place where her infection ordeal began.
She said: ‘It was important to return and close that chapter.
‘What was most emotional was meeting survivors, seeing how hard life still is for many.’