Jan. 17, 2025

By Dave Scheiber

Anja Crist was living the life she had always dreamed of when everything changed without warning.

She and her husband, Dillon, had key roles in rewarding jobs — Anja as a health and productivity analyst for an insurance brokerage; Dillon as a regional director in the financial investments advisory field. The couple married in 2021, relocated to Tampa from Atlanta for work and in 2022 welcomed their son Charlie with an uncomplicated delivery and boundless joy.

But six weeks after Charlie’s birth and an hour before boarding a flight to Atlanta, Anja (pronounced An-ya) began feeling ill. She headed to an area hospital, where she was immediately admitted and prepped for emergency surgery.

“When I woke up, I had lost a lot of blood and was passing out, which resulted in my receiving blood transfusions,” Anja recalls. 

Doctors quickly determined that Anja’s placenta had not fully detached from her uterus during childbirth, leading to severe bleeding. And they had a strong suspicion of the cause — a rare condition neither she nor her husband had ever heard of, placenta accreta, a complication in which the placenta attaches to and grows deep into the uterine wall. It’s difficult to diagnose with certainty even after symptoms arise, so as she recovered, doctors could only warn her of the possibility it would recur and offer heartbreaking advice: Don’t become pregnant again.

Anja was able to beat the odds thanks to the world-class care provided by physicians at Tampa General Hospital and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Today, she and Dillon are the proud parents of two thriving little boys, Charlie, now 2, and Crew, 1. To show her appreciation, she has established a placenta accreta education fund through the USF Foundation to benefit Morsani College of Medicine residents, fellows and faculty members. 

In addition, she plans to compete Jan. 26 in a half-marathon as part of the Clearwater Marathon and Running Festival to raise awareness about the condition and support the fund.

Anja had grown up in a large family and wanted Charlie to have at least one sibling.

“The doctors just felt it was too risky and that if I wanted to have more kids, they suggested I have a surrogate,” she says. “That was really hard to hear. My sisters are angels and told me they’d carry another baby for me. But they have their own families they’re creating, and I didn’t want them to put anything on pause for me.”

Instead, she leaned on her religious faith and decided to go forward with having another child. 

“I was able to get pregnant again, and I was definitely nervous, but at the same time, I thought, ‘God will get me through this.’ I don’t even know if I have placenta accreta, and we’ll see how it all goes,’” she says. 

As Anja’s second pregnancy progressed, her obstetrician, Dr. Kathryn Dean, called in specialists to help. She had done her residency with Dr. Jose Duncan and Dr. Alejandro Rodriguez, both Morsani College of Medicine faculty members and physicians in Tampa General’s nationally acclaimed high-risk obstetrics care practice — ranked sixth in the country by U.S. News & World Report. Along with another MCOM-TGH physician, Dr. Mary Ashley Cain — USF Health’s fellowship program director in maternal fetal medicine obstetrics and gynecology — the expert team took charge.

No one could determine with certainty whether Anja had placenta accreta or not — opinions varied from visit to visit. But a solid game plan emerged with the guidance of Dr. Duncan.

“Dr. Duncan is an incredible doctor — he was completely in tune with what I was worried about,” Anja says. “He said he thought it would be safer for me to have a cesarean section, though he stressed he wanted me to do what I felt was best and what my gut was telling me.”

In the end, Anja opted for a C-section. 

“I can’t stress enough the complexity of placenta accreta and how life-threatening it is,” says Dr. Duncan. “Thankfully, TGH is a Center of Excellence for this pathology. She understood everything, and I would say she’s the perfect patient. She’s always on board, always asking the right questions. It’s nice when you have this kind of good communication with someone. She knew we can’t predict everything, but she trusted our plan.” 

The morning of the surgery, Anja remembers seeing the delivery room filled with obstetricians, anesthesiologists, nurses and residents. 

“After they delivered Crew, Dr. Duncan came around the bed and told me I had a severe case of placenta accreta, and they would try to remove it,” she says.

Ultimately, that could only be accomplished by removing Anja’s uterus, a decision she was at peace with.

“I just feel so grateful for everything Tampa General and USF Health did for me,” she says. “I truly felt cared for — even the residents in the delivery room were coaching me through breathing and holding my hands.”

Blessed with two healthy children, she set out to find a way to give back and help others who may have the condition, and worked with the USF Foundation to make it a reality. 

“I wanted to create something that will help residents, fellows and doctors to have more education and experience around placenta accreta, so they’re fully prepared for it,” she says. “Maybe the fund can make a difference saving a life.”

Just as top-tier care from the Morsani College of Medicine and TGH saved her own.