Omari Maynard's Story
‘Health equity for me means that whoever is going to be my practitioner looks at me the same way they look at their brother, the same way they look at their sister, the same way they look at their mother.’ -Omari Maynard
Since Omari Maynard and Shamony Gibson had a healthy baby girl, Anari, in 2017, it never occurred to them that two years later their second pregnancy would be any different. And at first it wasn’t. They created a birth plan with a midwife and a doula, helping them feel confident. But when Shamony wasn’t dilating properly, their midwife advised them to go to a hospital. Their son Kari, like their daughter, was delivered via Cesarean birth.
Almost immediately, Shamony complained about pain and shortness of breath. Twice the couple went to the hospital to talk to their doctors, and both times their concerns were dismissed. “Basically, the answer that we got was that she needed to rest,” Omari says.
Thirteen days after giving birth, Shamony developed a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in the lungs). Omari found her convulsing on the floor and called 911. The EMTs and fire department arrived, then the specialists, all asking the same question: Has she been doing any drugs? “We’re telling them ‘look, she just had a child, she’s perfectly healthy, she’s a 30-year-old woman,” says Omari. This went on for nearly 20 minutes before they took her out of the house.
“Unfortunately the closest hospital to us has been divested from for years, so they didn’t have funding, they didn’t have a proper unit, they didn’t have the things that were necessary to help save her life,” Omari recalls. So after 12 hours of waiting—and coding five or six different times—Shamony passed away.
“This continues to have just a huge impact on my life—the way I see things, the way I feel things, the way I experience life is totally different than what it was two years ago,” Omari says.
Today he honors Shamony by dedicating himself to raise awareness through his art and support others who’ve lost a partner because of maternal health issues. He also partners with March of Dimes to share their story. "March of Dimes is community. March of Dimes is family. You are not alone,” he adds.
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