SHE is lucky to be alive – and now a Basingstoke woman who survived two ruptured ectopic pregnancies is preparing to take on a charity challenge in memory of a woman who died of the condition.

In 2009, a year after getting married, Nicola Akers was delighted when she found out she was pregnant.

But at nine weeks she suddenly woke with a shooting pain in her side.

She visited an emergency out-of-hours doctor who explained she might suffer a miscarriage, and was advised to rest for a couple of days to see what would happen.

But three days later Nicola was overcome with an excruciating pain and sickness.

The 36-year-old, from Brighton Hill, said: “The doctor was called out and took one look at me and said I had to get to hospital urgently.”

Nicola was sent for a scan at Basingstoke hospital but nothing was found.

She said: “My mother had heard about ectopic pregnancies before, and she asked if it could be this, but we were told it wasn’t.”

Later that evening Nicola complained of pain in her right shoulder blade, but she was reassured that everything was fine.

Her blood pressure was taken and found to be very low.

She said: “Within minutes I had half-a-dozen nurses around me preparing me for emergency surgery.

“My pregnancy had made it to the end of the tube and had started to form which is why it looked okay on the scan. However, my baby had got stuck in the end of the tube.

“My tube ruptured and the pain in my shoulder was internal bleeding and I was rushed for emergency surgery.

“After hours in surgery and huge blood loss I awoke in recovery to be told I had suffered from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy which had resulted in a partial fallopian tube removal and I had to receive a blood transfusion.”

Nicola managed to fall pregnant again in 2011. But at a nine week scan she was given the devastating news that, although a heart beat had been found, it was in the wrong place.

Her baby was once again trapped in her tube.

Within hours Nicola was taken for emergency surgery.

But as she was having the operation the pregnancy ruptured again.

Surgeons were unable to access her tubes because of the severe scar tissue caused by internal bleeding from the last rupture.

The surgery ended up taking six hours during which time Nicola’s tube was removed.

She said: “Unfortunately after going through this twice I have now been told I cannot have children. As devastating as this is I am actually one of the lucky ones and have survived this twice.”

She added: “To have it twice and survive is quite incredible.”

Since her ordeal Nicola met a woman called Dawn who lost her 28-year-old daughter Sabrina Stevenson to an ectopic pregnancy in 2012, and has been raising money and awareness of the condition.

Nicola said: “I have always wanted to do something to not only raise money but to raise awareness of ectopic pregnancies and now I have found the Thames Path Challenge which I will be doing on behalf of Sabrina and my two lost angels.”

The designer for Waitrose will take part in the 31 mile walk on September 12 in aid of The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust, which has supported Nicola.

She has never taken part in a physical challenge before, and said: “This is a huge challenge for me. I am overweight and unfit.”

She added: “The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust have been absolutely amazing. When the first one happened, coming to terms with it was a huge deal. Not only have you lost your baby, you don’t know why. I didn’t even know what an ectopic pregnancy was. They provided counselling.”

There are on average five deaths per year from ectopic pregnancies, and it is the leading cause of maternal death in the first trimester of pregnancy.

For more information on the trust visit ectopic.org.uk.