The Kansas City Chiefs have announced plans to honor cheerleader Krystal Anderson, who died after giving birth earlier this year.
Each member of the cheerleading squad will wear a physical cuff on their right arm with Anderson’s initials embroidered in white rhinestones in a field of red rhinestones, the team revealed.
The same logo will be added to the padding near the 10-yard line on the Chiefs’ sideline, the location Anderson worked during every home Game for the past seven years as a member of the team’s Alumni Crew.
In addition, the owners of the Chiefs will make a donation in her name “to celebrate areas in which she was passionate.”
Anderson died in March shortly after giving birth to her daughter Charlotte, who was stillborn. She was 40 years old.
After the tragedy, Anderson’s husband, Clayton, told Kansas City’s KSHB what occurred after his late wife was hospitalized during her 21st week of pregnancy.
“Everything happened so fast,” Clayton explained. “We went to go get a check at the OB emergency room as of 5:30 that Saturday the 16th, everything looked good. Big girl, she was measuring at 22 weeks and we were only 20 weeks and four days. Heart just ticking right along.”
The following day, however, the baby didn’t have a heartbeat. Hours later, after grieving her loss, Anderson’s Health began taking a turn for the worse.
“She started getting a fever and started saying ‘I’m really cold and shaky,’ and they were holding her hand but she was needing medical attention at that point,” Clayton said. “The labs came back and that’s when we knew there was a problem. It’s called acidosis, it’s when your lactic acid levels are too high.”
Anderson was placed on a ventilator and a dialysis machine, but after complete lung, liver and kidney failure and undergoing three surgeries, she died on March 20, three days after the stillbirth.
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In the aftermath of his wife’s death, Clayton has made it his mission to ensure that no couples are forced to endure the same tragic fate.
“We gotta do a better job for our mothers,” Clayton said. “If we don’t make changes to how we take care of pregnancy, particularly Black women, women of color pregnancies, nothing is ever going to change.”
