‘Fight for our lives': Family warns Black moms after Maryland woman's death

Arika Trim was the kind of daughter who made her family proud. She was a college graduate who worked for former first lady Michelle Obama, the House of Representatives and the American Hospital Association.

“She was the most beautiful person, inside out. She had the biggest smile. She had the biggest heart. She cared for everyone,” her mother, Donna Trim-Stewart, said.

The Prince George’s County, Maryland, resident was pregnant with her first child in June 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. At 30 weeks, she knew something was wrong.

“One day, she said she felt the baby was hardly moving, and she reached out to the doctors. They asked her to come to the hospital. She went to the hospital. They decided they would keep her, and she stayed there for a couple weeks,” her mom said.

“Then on June 16, she had the baby. They did an emergency C-section, and Djai was born. And it was another exciting, happy moment for us. They had him in the NICU and she had him on the Tuesday. And then they sent her home on the Friday,” Trim-Stewart continued.

Little Djai needed to stay in intensive care.

“Every day, we would go visit the baby, and then the Tuesday, we were getting ready to see the baby, and she had a little episode and one thing led to the next,” she said. “We ended up in the ER and a couple hours after that, she was dead.”

Trim died of pregnancy complications at age 29.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data in February on pregnancy-related deaths. The numbers fell for white, Hispanic and Asians moms, but the mortality rate for Black women continued to rise.

Arika Trim 'did the right things' but 'somehow it still happened'

Trim did everything she could to keep herself and her baby healthy, her mom said.

“She was very, very informed about those things, and she took the necessary steps to ask the right questions, did the right things, you know, to try to avoid this situation. But somehow it still happened,” she said.

Trim’s brother, Travis Trim, misses his sister and best friend every day. The pain and fear of her death rushed back last year when he learned he and his partner were expecting. He said he felt afraid.

“When we found out, it was very exciting, of course, finding that out, but it was just a time of us just trying to make sure we did everything right, knowing what happened with Arika,” he said.

Travis Trim and his partner hired a doula.

Doula care in perinatal care is significantly correlated with positive delivery outcomes, including reduced cesarean and premature deliveries, a 2023 Nova Southeastern University study found.

How the Trims are working to protect pregnant Black women

The Trim family is working to give more Black women access to doulas. They created the Arika Trim Foundation to educate Black women about the risks of maternal mortality and raise money for doula support.

“Last year, we were able to sponsor our first mother with doula services. And that was, like, beyond words to be able to provide that support,” Trim-Stewart said. “That has been really a game changer for us in saying the need is out there and we need to push.”

As the Trims raise Arika’s son, who is now 5 years old, they continue to work to turn their forever pain into focused purpose.

“For Arika's sake, the person Arika was, she wouldn't want us just to, you know, let her death be in vain,” her brother said.

Trim-Stewart urged others to protect Black mothers.

“We as a culture, we as a people, have to raise up and we have to fight,” she said. “We are in the fight for our lives, for our children, for our grandchildren. Because like you just said, it's improving in all other sectors but us. And this is what it’s saying: Nobody will do it for us but us.”