Utah parents turn grief into action

Elle Gerritsen was born on a Saturday in May and buried the next Saturday, fatally injured when blood vessels ruptured during her birth. Now her parents, Bryce and Miriam Gerritsen, have started a foundation and launched an education campaign in her memory, haunted to know that her condition, called vasa previa, while rare, is not hard to detect, but the test is seldom done.

Vasa previa is a condition that occurs when placental or umbilical blood vessels cross the entrance to the birth canal beneath the baby. When the cervix dilates or the membranes rupture, the unprotected vessels can tear, and the baby bleeds to death. It can also happen when the baby drops into position for delivery, compressing the vessels and limiting or shutting off the baby's supply of blood and thus oxygen.

Undiagnosed, 66 percent to 95 percent of the otherwise healthy babies die. Dealt with, they nearly always live. And all it takes to find the problem, according to Bryce Gerritsen, is a five-second scan using color ultrasound, which would show that the vessels are in the wrong place. Unfortunately, though ultrasound is routine, screening's not often done for placement of the blood vessels.

An estimated 1 in 2,000 to 3,000 unborn babies have vasa previa conditions. But prenatal screening for it is not routine, something Elle's parents want to change.

They're kicking off their awareness campaign with a walk around Sugarhouse Park on Saturday starting at 10 a.m., with registration an hour before at the West Hill pavilion. The registration fee for the 1.4-mile walk is $15, and participants are encouraged to collect pledges. Registration forms are also available online at the Vasa Previa Foundation of Utah Web site, www.vpfu.org. Proceeds go to education and to buying equipment to detect vasa previa.

The exact cause of vasa previa is not well known, but women with certain conditions are considered at higher risk and should be examined with transvaginal color Doppler ultrasound, specifically to see if blood vessels are in a dangerous location. The ultrasound is used to measure the velocity of blood flow. Distinct colors show different rates of blood flow and thus show the location of the fetal vessels.

Risks include low-lying placenta or placenta previa, painless bleeding, history of uterine surgery or D&C, multiple pregnancies and in-vitro fertilization, among others. Vasa previa can also occur when the umbilical cord goes not straight into the placenta but into the wall of the uterus and from there into the placenta, leaving some of the cord without its protective coating, sort of like a stripped electrical wire, he said.