A grieving mother in the United Kingdom spoke out after losing her daughter to severe pregnancy sickness, saying that if just one person had taken her condition seriously, it could have changed everything.
Susan Cronshaw is sharing the heartbreaking story of her daughter, Jess Cronshaw, in hopes of preventing similar tragedies.
“I wouldn’t want anybody to feel how Jess did,” she told ITV News. “She felt like no one was listening and they weren’t. It felt like you were just pushed from pillar to post. There was nobody taking it and being in charge of it.”
Jess, 26, was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), a severe pregnancy complication known for causing relentless nausea and vomiting.
The condition, which famously affected Kate Middleton, often results in dehydration, extreme weight loss, and hospitalization, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Despite her struggle, Jess did not receive the care she desperately needed. Her mother recalled how the illness drained her physically and emotionally.
“She couldn’t drink, she couldn’t eat, her weight was dropping off her. Her skin was white. She just wasn’t Jess,” Susan said.
Jess herself described her agony in a tearful voice memo to a friend, “Honestly it’s, like, the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through in my life. The constant nausea, there’s no relief from it. I just spend my days in bed. It’s just horrible.”
Jess had been prescribed an anti-nausea medication, but was later advised against taking it due to potential risks to her baby. With no effective treatment plan and no mental health support, her condition worsened.
In November 2022, when she was 28 weeks pregnant, Jess took her own life. Her baby, Elsie, was delivered via emergency C-section but tragically passed away four days later.
“We had her christened,” Susan shared. “She got reunited with her mom … there’s no words I can give you. Just heartbroke. Living my life now feels like I’m lost.”
A recent inquest into Jess’s death revealed that feeling unheard significantly impacted her mental health. It also found that she had been given “incorrect” advice to stop taking her anti-nausea medication and was never referred to any mental health services.
Susan believes that a single intervention could have made all the difference.
“That’s all it would have [taken], one individual to do something for Jess, and it would have changed the outcome altogether,” she said. “I know that, and I live with that.”
In Jess’s memory, a Just Giving fundraiser has been launched to support the UK’s Pregnancy Sickness Support organization.
“We all miss you every day, Jess, and there isn’t a day that goes by where we don’t cherish the precious memories we had the honour of making with you,” the fundraiser states.
“We hope we are doing you both proud by continuing to pursue much-needed change in the healthcare system, whilst navigating our grief so no expectant mother suffering with HG experiences what Jess did. We love you both endlessly.”
