Gemma Ameen, 28, was 10 weeks pregnant when her daughter Lana died within just 48 hours of developing symptoms of swine flu in December.
Just six weeks later, mrs Ameen found that the baby she was carrying had died in the womb at 13 weeks. She believes that the miscarriage was caused by the swine flu virus, and doctors are now carrying out tests.
Following Lana’s death, mrs Ameen, a former health care assistant, and her husband Zana, a doctor, released a photograph of their daughter’s final moments as they launched a campaign to petition the Government to change policies on vaccination to protect all children against the H1N1 virus.
Mrs Ameen claims she was refused the vaccination until after Lana’s cause of death was confirmed.
She said: “we both came down with the same virus on the same day. we all had a bit of something but me and Lana came down with it quite badly, but I didn’t have it as bad as Lana did obviously.
“The virus could have gone through to the placenta. We’re thinking along these lines but we’ve still got to wait for all of the tests to come back.
“Me and my husband both think that some of this infection has got into the blood system and affected the baby. We’re only suspecting that’s what’s happened. we don’t really know for sure.
“The baby had a post-mortem and apparently the baby was fine. her chromosome and placenta came back normal so we’re just waiting now for the full post mortem. I think they are testing for swine flu. I would be very angry. They’re not very organised, they’ve not got a clue what they’re doing.
“Perhaps this is why the baby has died and if it does come out the baby has died because of swine flu, yet again they didn’t give me the vaccine.
“No one can replace Lana but we kind of hoped having this baby would have eased the pain a little bit but I suppose that’s gone now as well, so we’re just coping.”
The couple, who live in Quinton in Birmingham, had been staying with family in Stockport on Christmas Eve when Lana developed what appeared to be a cold.
Within hours her temperature had reached almost 40C and her parents rushed her to accident and emergency at Stepping Hill Hospital, where doctors diagnosed her with an infection and brought her temperature down. on Christmas Day, Lana managed to open presents and eat some dinner, but she later began having fits and died the next day.
Now mr and mrs Ameen are determined to pursue their campaign to persuade ministers to protect all children against the swine flu virus, rather than only those who are deemed to be at risk. they have already gathered more than 10,000 signatures supporting them.
Mrs Ameen said: “I’m just focusing on this campaign. I’m just waiting for the MP so we can take everything to Downing Street. We’ve got over 10,000 signatures. The support has been overwhelming.
“Lana was very healthy. She’s hardly ever been ill, just the odd cold here and there, she didn’t have any underlying issues. It can kill young, fit and healthy people in such a short space of time.
“If she had had the vaccination perhaps she wouldn’t have become ill.”