Menopause at 27, then car crash gives mum her miracle baby

Fast-forward a few years, and Kate was in her 30s and had just qualified as a nurse. On the last day of a cycling holiday in the French Pyrenees, she was involved in a head-on collision with a car. The accident left her so badly injured that she spent 3 days in a coma and was told she would never walk again.

After 10 years, hello period...

But despite almost leaving Kate for dead, the horrific accident caused something quite amazing to happen to her body – it somehow re-booted her fertility, even though she had already gone through the menopause. Her periods returned two months after the crash, after a gap of 10 years. In what has been called a 'medical miracle', Kate eventually became pregnant.

Speaking to The New Day newspaper, Kate said her medical team told her that the crash 'somehow rebooted' her body.

“My monthly cycle started up again. This meant I was able to conceive my daughter Ruby – the daughter I’d always wanted,” Kate said. “So while it was the worst thing that ever happened to me and took years to recover from, it has now also turned out to be the best thing that has ever happened to me as well. Without the accident I’d never have been able to have her.”

“When I told the doctor she told me she’d never seen a case like this in her career but she had heard it was possible,” she says."

Kate says it has taken her almost 10 years to recover from the accident, physically and mentally, but she feels 'so grateful' to have Ruby, who is now six.

Kate, who works as an Emergency Department nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham (where she was also cared for after her accident), said that her recovery and subsequent pregnancy were a miracle given that she had been told she would never be a mum.

“Earlier this month, on the anniversary of the day my life almost ended, I went back to France but this time I took my beautiful daughter to Disneyland Paris with her best friend to celebrate my survival.

“It was a day of reflection, but also of joy – I got my life and my career back, and now I help others who come into my hospital’s A&E alongside the colleagues who helped me.”

Kate is still being monitored by medics at the hospital, who are keen to work out just what went on with her body post-accident so they can learn more about her mega-rare recovery.

The surgeon who treated Kate, Mr Cooper, said that her injuries had been 'very severe' and that he was 'thrilled and amazed' to see her eventually overcome them all, and 'blossom' into her role as a nurse.

“To cap it all, it is tremendous that out of the dark cloud of her trauma a wonderful good came with the birth of her daughter,” he added

And just as bizarrely

But it wasn't just the return of her fertility which left doctors amazed after her accident – Kate also woke up speaking with a South African accent, and was suddenly able to speak fluent French! This was down to a really weird condition called Foreign Accent Syndrome, which although very rare, can occur after brain damage or severe trauma.

“I woke up with a clipped, South African accent, which was both devastating and bizarre,” Kate tells the paper. “If that wasn’t weird enough, although I’d only taken A-level French, I started speaking fluent French.”

HOW bizarre is that? But what an amazing story all round (particularly as Kate is now sharing it as part of a drive to raise funds for her hospital).

Pictures: Kate Mansbridge/Facebook

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