Why Blood Donors Are My Heroes

Post written by Joey Hoffman, mother of a blood recipient. On February 8, 2003, my daughter, Daisy, received her first blood transfusion immediately after birth. It helped save her life – as did countless other transfusions over the years. At eight weeks in utero, Daisy was diagnosed with gastroschisis, a congenital condition in which her intestines developed outside of her body in the amniotic fluid. My OB-GYN stated that she would be OK. They would place her intestines back inside her abdomen, and she’d recover in the neonatal intensive care unit for two weeks. Daisy lived in the NICU for seven months. Daisy didn’t recover as her physicians anticipated, so two weeks after she was born, she returned to the operating room for exploratory surgery. What did they find? Most of her small and large intestines were necrotic, or dead. That night, cribside, she received more blood, helping to save her life once again. As a snowstorm raged outside, I watched each drop of blood flow into her tiny body, a four-hour process that ended at midnight. As a first-time mom still recovering from my cesarean section, plus acclimating to New York City hospital life and the fact that my daughter’s life was in moment-to-moment jeopardy, I was on autopilot – praying, visualizing and feeling grateful that she was alive. It was hard to imagine that people we had never met donated their blood to help save a stranger’s life. PD (pre-Daisy), I had never received blood or given blood. I just k...
Source: Red Cross Chat - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Blood biomed transfusion Source Type: news