Blood Donation Essay
Kristi Freeman
We often think of blood donation as being a gift to an individual, often a stranger such as a random trauma or surgery patient. What most people don’t realize is that it isn’t a static gift, it can affect more than one person in a single donation. This was such with my case. To truly stress the magnitude of the situation, I’ll have to begin by prefacing how I came to the circumstance of needing a blood donation.
After years of undergoing grueling fertility treatments, I finally became pregnant with twins. What seemed to be a successful pregnancy would prove to be trying at best and would end in both tragedy and in triumph. In 2007, at 5 months pregnant, my water unexpectedly broke while at work. Facing the loss of both of my babies, a stranger took me to the hospital where she held my hand as I delivered a baby boy, just under a pound. Due to his extreme prematurity, he did not survive. I was told by doctors that the delivery of my surviving twin was imminent. Luckily, they were fraternal twins and had their own amniotic sac, therefore, hers remained intact. Facing the funeral of my son, and trying to stay optimistic about the remaining life I carried was undoubtedly the most difficult position I had ever been in. The next several weeks consisted of strict bed rest and as many prayers, good vibes, and uplifting thoughts as I could get. Despite efforts by myself and medical intervention, on September 6, 2007, I gave birth to a tiny fighter weighing in at 1lb 14 ounces. Jaidyn Orchid entered this world with odds against her survival. Doctors were frank in their discussions regarding her bleak quality of life, should she survive.
The needs of premature babies include respiratory assistance, temperature regulation, countless diagnostic tests, procedures, and -of course- nutrition. She undoubtedly needed to gain weight, she needed calories. I felt helpless in her care, but the one thing I could supply her with was the center of her growth and healing. The doctors referred to my breast milk as “liquid gold”. Every two hours around the clock was spent pumping breast milk to be delivered to the NICU. Post-delivery, things seemed to be going as expected with my healing. I have had two children prior and I understood how the postpartum process felt. Within 48 hours after delivery this took a drastic change. I began feeling lethargic and unwell, I was bleeding significantly more than my prior deliveries and knew something was terribly wrong within my body. I was hemorrhaging. I needed to be healthy in order to produce the breast milk, which became increasingly more difficult for me with the extreme blood loss and building stress. With my dwindling health, I couldn’t naturally produce this “liquid gold”. In turn, Jaidyn’s life would soon begin to dwindle. Despite attempting other various measures to stop the bleeding, the hemorrhaging continued. The doctors then determined that I immediately needed a blood transfusion. Multiple units of a generous stranger’s blood were pumped into my body to ensure both mine and my premature infant’s survival.
Within minutes of my blood transfusion, medical staff and family members noted that there was an astounding change in my color. Almost immediately, I began to feel the energy and life reappear. Most do not understand the gravity of blood and the powerful impact it has.
To the stranger that may have sat in the blood bank truck at the college or attended a blood drive elsewhere in their community: whether you donated your gift of blood because you felt obligated or were lured by a free t-shirt, neither mattered to me. In the end, it was the center of my triumph. Jaidyn is now a healthy eight-year-old who is both intelligent beyond her years and a beautiful dancer. She is well aware of her journey and how blood donation contributed to hers and her mommy’s lives. I have nothing to offer you but a humble thank you.
If anyone wonders the power of the gift of blood… in one donation a wife, mother, daughter, and sister were saved.