I NEEDED 80 LITRES OF BLOOD
Strangers saved Melinda’s life
Feeling excited, my husband Dino, then 32, and I arrived at hospital. I was 38 weeks pregnant and heading in for a planned C-section because my placenta was lying too close to my cervix, a condition called placenta previa.
After our beautiful daughter Avana had been delivered, I felt faint.
‘Do you want to hold the baby?’ the nurse said, but I was just too weak.
The next thing I knew, Dino was being sent out of the room and I was being given a general anaesthetic.
When I came to, I was surprised to find my whole family around my bedside.
‘What happened? Is the baby all right?’ I asked, terrified.
‘She’s fine, but we nearly lost you,’ Dino said gently. ‘You’re in intensive care.’
To my shock, I was told that I’d had massive blood loss and surgeons had fought to keep me alive.
It turned out I’d had an undiagnosed condition called placenta increta. This means it had grown too deeply into my uterine wall. Placentas like this have a high chance of haemorrhaging after birth.
I’d lost an incredible amount of blood.
‘You lost all of your blood three times,’ the surgeon said.
I’d needed 40 units of pure blood, plus another 40 units of other blood products, such as plasma.
‘You lost so much blood the blood bank ran out. They put a call-out over the hospital speakers for volunteers to immediately come forward to donate,’ Dino said.
A haematologist from Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital had even been flown that night to the hospital in Gosford, NSW, to save my life.
Medical staff were stunned I was still alive.
And everyone in the hospital seemed to know who I was.
‘You’re the woman who lost all the blood and survived!’ people said, amazed.
Medical staff were stunned I was still alive
‘I’m so glad we’re both here,’ I said to Avana tearfully, when I was finally able to hold her.
Sadly, I’d had to have a hysterectomy while I was under as a life-saving measure.
Today Avana is an adorable six-year-old and I’m grateful for every day I have with her, Dino, and my older kids, Largo, seven, and Krystal, 19.
I can’t thank the blood donors who saved my life enough.
Now, I always make time to give blood myself.
At this time of year, stocks can run low as people take breaks.
That’s why I’m urging people to remember to donate.
You just might save a life this Christmas.