Photo Courtesy of FOX 2 Detroit/YouTube
The sudden and tragic loss of Alona White, a 25-year-old Michigan mother, has left her family searching for answers.
According to FOX Detroit, White passed away on March 13, just days after giving birth to her second child, Ari, at Ascension St. John Hospital.
A post-labor CT scan revealed that she had excessive bleeding on the side of her brain, which required an emergency craniotomy. Despite the efforts of medical professionals, White passed away five days later.
Her mother, Katina Ponder, is still waiting for an autopsy report to provide answers about what happened to her daughter.
She shared that White was a healthy young woman who was excited to give birth to Ari, and the family is in shock and struggling to understand why such a tragedy occurred.
“She was 25, perfectly healthy, I just don’t know what went wrong,” she said.
Ponder emphasized that no amount of money can bring her daughter back, and the family is focused on mourning their loss and supporting White’s partner Derrick with the care of the two young girls, Aleah Sullivan, 2, and Ari, just a few weeks old.
“It’s no amount of money that will bring her back and for these babies to live without their mother – no amount of money,” she said.
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Unfortunately, White’s story is not unique, as Black mothers in America face a disproportionate risk of maternal mortality.
A 2020 report from the National Center for Health Statistics, showed
that the maternal mortality rate for women of African descent is approximately 55 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to 19.1 deaths per 100,000 live births for white women. Black women are also more likely to have C-sections than white women.The family started a GoFundMe to help with her funeral costs. While the goal was to raise $20,000, the campaign fell short by a little under $4,000.