On February 11, 1989, Clara Mast died of complications from eclampsia and ruptured liver at Maury Regional Hospital, Columbia, Tennessee. The mother of ten, Mrs. Mast was a member of an Old Order Amish community located near Ethridge, Tennessee. She had had no prenatal care during any of her pregnancies. She called a midwife to examine her on January 22 at 37 weeks of gestation, when she began to experience excruciating abdominal pain. The midwife found her blood pressure to be extremely high and transported her to the hospital emergency room, where her healthy daughter was delivered.
Mrs. Mast clung to life for more than two weeks before succumbing to an infection of the pancreas and the removal of 3/4 of her liver.
This quilt block was created by Pamela Hunt and Ina May Gaskin.
