"I nearly died after giving birth to my daughter": Serena Williams looks back on emergency C-section in having Olympia

WTA legend Serena Williams spoke about the complications and difficulties she faced when giving birth to her first child, daughter Olympia.

In an article for CNN, Williams opened up about the life-threatening experiences she suffered after giving birth via emergency C-section, in an effort to raise awareness about stillbirths in African-American women in the United States and women with limited access to adequate healthcare worldwide.

"I nearly died after giving birth to my daughter, Olympia," said the 23-time Grand Slam champion. "Still, I count myself lucky. This set off a series of health complications that I'm lucky to have survived. First my C-section injury healed snapped open due to the intense cough I endured from the embolism.

"I returned to the operating room, where the doctors found a large hematoma, a swelling of clotted blood, in my abdomen. And then I returned to the operating room surgery for a procedure that prevents clots from traveling to my lungs."

The 42-year old revealed she was bedridden following the delivery, and the outcome may have been different were it not for the professional care she received.

"When I finally returned home to my family, I had to spend the first six weeks of maternity bedridden," she said. "I am so grateful to have had access to such an incredible medical team of doctors and nurses in a state-of-the-art hospital.

"They knew exactly how to handle this complicated turn of events. If it wasn't for their professional assistance, I wouldn't be here today."

Williams was quick to compere her situation to that of other African-American women in the US who lacked adequate healthcare, as well as women in poorer nations who did not even have access to that sort of treatment.

"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black women in the United States are three times more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes," she added. "But this is not just a challenge in the United States, the world, thousands of women struggle to give birth in the poorest countries.

"Before they even bring a new life into this world, the cards are already stacked against them. That world is possible. And we must dare to dream it for every Black woman, for every woman in Malawi and for every mother out there. Together, we can make this change. Together, we can be the change."