JeffCo Principal's Death During Childbirth Part Of Alarming Trend

LAKEWOOD, CO – The recent death in childbirth Sept. 27 of a 39-year-old JeffCo educator has shocked the friends and family of Leilani Tanner, an assistant principal at McClain Community High School. It also has reminded them that pregnancy in America can be dangerous to the mother's health.

Tanner's colleague at McClain Cara Taft, who is also pregnant, said she considered Tanner her "support system," in an interview with 9NEWS. "It's daily. It's tough. I think about her all the time," Taft said.

Everybody knows that childbirth is hard, Taft told the station, but most people do not consider it dangerous.

"You don't think about, it's something you're doing to risk your life potentially," Taft said.

"This is 2018, not 1918. This isn't supposed to happen," a supporter posted on Facebook.

Leilani Tanner died of a a brain stem hemorrhage, likely related to eclampsia, according to her brother, Lyle Tanner. Not feeling well, she had gone to an urgent care center, where doctors then sent her via ambulance to Lutheran Memorial where the baby, named Alan Campbell, was delivered.

Baby Alan, born at 26-weeks gestation and weighing 2 lbs., was air-lifted to St. Joseph's hospital, where he remains in the NICU. He will likely remain hospitalized until December, his uncle said.

Maternity death rates are increasing in the U.S.

While U.S. medicine has made great strides to cut the levels of infant mortality, the Centers for Disease control reports that every year in the U.S., 700 to 900 women die from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes, and some 65,000 nearly die — the worst rate in the developed world, according to "Lost Mothers" a multipart series by ProPublica and National Public Radio this spring. The series won a Peabody Award.

The death rate for expectant and recently delivered mothers in the U.S. has actually increased between 2000-2015, whereas it has dropped in comparative developed countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom or Sweden. The study reported that the CDC Foundation said 60 percent of such deaths are preventable.

No one knows why U.S. women are twice as likely as Canadian women to die while pregnant or in childbirth. But the trend cuts across race and class, the study showed. "Pregnancy and childbirth complications kill women of every race and ethnicity, education and income level, in every part of the U.S.," the study said.

Maternal Mortality Is Rising in the U.S. As It Declines Elsewhere

Deaths per 100,000 live births

Prenatal health care

Leilani's family members know she was taking the right steps to take care of herself.

"Leilani was very active in her prenatal health care," her brother Lyle said in an email. Leilani was athletic and played soccer regularly, her brother said. Her parents and siblings as well as baby Alan's father, Jamal Campbell, are still trying to process her loss, Lyle said.

Her friends at JeffCo School District, where she worked for more than 20 years, are also shocked.

"Leilani had touched the lives of many students and built relationships with coworkers across the district," a statement from JeffCo School District said last week.

She also touched the lives of the students at McClain Community High School, Principal Gavan Goodrich told 9NEWS. Leilani gave birth to her first son, Austin, now 21, as a young mother. She had a special place in her heart for teens who were mothers or pregnant at McClain, Goodrich said.

"One of the things that really drew her to McLain was that we have a group of students who are pregnant," Goodrich said.

Family members are requesting donations of breast milk in Leilani's name to non-profit Rocky Mountain Children's Health Foundation Mother's Milk Bank for medically vulnerable infants. They also ask for blood donations in her name, or financial donations to the organization.

A Celebration of Life will take place for Leilani at Hatfield School on Sunday, Oct. 21 between 1-3 p.m.

Related: Beloved JeffCo Educator Dies In Childbirth; Baby In NICU

Watch the 9NEWS report here.

Read ProPublica/NPR series here.

Images via Lyle Tanner

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