Ballymoney woman Ruth Fields running Paris marathon to raise awareness of ectopic pregnancy

​Ruth Fields from Ballymoney, who has been training hard for the marathon on April 7, pointed out that one in 80 pregnancies experience an ectopic (when a fertilised egg implants itself outside of the womb, usually in one of the fallopian tubes), and if not identified correctly can be life-threatening.

A personal trainer, sports massage therapist and coffee shop owner, Ruth, 33, said even though she is not a runner, she wanted to pick something challenging.

“By running this marathon I want to raise awareness and help others who are unfortunate to have experienced this before and help them know that they are not alone.”

Sharing her own devastating experience, Ruth said: “2022 was the worst year of my life, with constant visits to the hospital, numerous unexplained pregnancy losses and one ectopic rupture which was life threatening as doctors had missed it.

"Someone was watching over me that day I was rushed into hospital, straight to surgery not sure what was happening, but I came out alive with a fallopian tube removed and a little baby that never got the chance to even grow. Mentally this destroyed me, I was in a hole that I never felt I could come out of.”

Describing the events leading up to the ectopic rupture, Ruth said doctors thought her symptoms were related to a miscarriage she had had some weeks before.

“They kept an eye on me, did blood tests and couldn’t understand why HCG levels (a hormone that’s found during pregnancy) weren’t dropping. They then sent me for a scan. They couldn’t see anything so thought everything was ok, the levels would drop in time they thought.”

Ruth said that as the days passed, her symptoms got worse.

"I started to feel ill. I had a burning sensation in my stomach. A few days later again, I got more pale, I had no energy, the pain got worse and I struggled to eat. I went back to work, my work colleagues told me how awful I looked. That morning I could hardly stand in work and my clients actually told me to ring the hospital, but I felt what was the point as I had already been numerous times that week. I felt like I was just annoying them now in the hospital. But I called anyway.

“By this stage the nurses in that department knew me quite well as I had been in so much. I told them my symptoms were getting worse, but didn’t want to be a pain as I knew they would be rushed off their feet.”

The nurses told Ruth to come in to hospital and she drove herself there.

“I walked in and the nurse who had seen me regularly knew I really didn’t look my best, so told me to go to the waiting area and little did I know she called the doctor and the surgeon as she knew something just wasn’t right. The doctor took me straight away and scanned me, she gasped and told me she didn’t want to say anything too soon but she wanted to wait till the surgeon could see before jumping to conclusions. The surgeon came, looked at the scan and had the same reaction. He said, ‘This girl needs to go straight to surgery, now please’.

Ruth added: “ I didn’t know what was happening, I asked what was going on, but the surgeon said he couldn’t be clear because there was so much blood internally, but he thought it was an ectopic rupture. He said, ‘I need to get in there to stop the bleeding, I don’t know what I have to do, but the bleeding needs to stop and I may need to remove a (fallopian) tube or both.”

At this stage, Ruth said her pain had turned into fear.

“Fear or not being able to have children, fear of not waking up, fear that this was actually another loss and no one could tell me why this keeps happening. All these things were going on in my head…. my life was in danger and the doctors and nurses had my life in their hands.

“I woke up to the surgeon telling me the operation was successful, it was an ectopic pregnancy that had ruptured and a fallopian tube had to be removed, but the other tube was still there, which would allow me to be able to try for a baby at a later stage. Thankful to be awake and highly dosed up on pain relief I couldn’t think about much else at that time.”

Ruth said the aftermath of her experience has caused her a lot of mental pain.

“I struggled, and still do struggle, even now over a year on. But with the help of friends, family and this charity (The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust) sharing stories and helping me feel not so alone, I feel like I am getting there in terms of coming to terms with it all. I will never fully heal from it all and will always think of those little angels I will never meet, but I am getting better.”

Ruth said her advice to other women who have had an ectopic pregnancy is this: “No one will know exactly how you feel and only you will know that, but please chat to someone, don’t block it out and think you can or should deal with it on your own. This will always be a part of your life but please don’t suffer in silence, reach out and with the correct support the pain and loneliness you’re feeling can be eased.

"I probably got on with things too quickly, got back to work too soon and found myself in a hole not sure how to get out of it, only now am I facing up to what really happened and I’ve had to reach out for help, there is no shame in it. This can be such a taboo topic that we just don’t talk about but If this helps at least one person then raising awareness and money for this charity will be so worth my while.”

To donate to Ruth’s marathon challenge visit: https://www.justgiving.com/page/ruth-fields-1691944357622?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Fruth-fields-1691944357622&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share&fbclid=IwAR2Ud-lO6vUvFHRm iScXTFqabqxoBQ7tr4cXBcer8bJrnx4BIvJl6U7am0