The Cornishman, Thursday, 9 March 2006:
BABY’S MIRACLE SURVIVAL
AFTER TRAGIC DEATH OF MOTHER
A Scillonian family was this week mourning one member and welcoming another after a tragic but life-affirming incident last Saturday when 21-year-old expectant mother Josephine Martyn died after falling downstairs at her home, Pregowther Farm, St. Mary’s.
A doctor who attended the scene with an ambulance crew detected a heartbeat in the womb and successfully delivered a baby boy by emergency Caesarean section eight weeks prematurely. The child was later transferred to the special care baby unit at Treliske Hospital. A spokesperson said medical staff were “amazed” by how well he was doing.
Many islanders will remember that Josephine Martyn, née Edwards, cheated the medical odds herself as a child by recovering from a particularly virulent form of leukaemia. Speaking on behalf of Josephine’s husband Frederick Martyn, Mr. Martyn’s brother, Alfred who also lives at Pregowther Farm, said the baby’s survival was a “miracle” that made Josephine’s death easier to bear. “It’s what she’d have wanted,” he added. “The family line will go on.”