Don’t wait until disaster strikes
WHAT CAN you do? Give blood. Give now. Give often’. I suddenly started haemorrhaging one night and was immediately rushed to the hospital ER, where I soon became much worse due to the extent of my illness. While at the hospital, my haemoglobin level was 7.3, then fell to six, and then fell to a level which my doctor told me, “Many people aren’t usually alive to tell.” I needed emergency surgery and blood transfusion to save my life.
Without blood transfusion, the surgery could not be performed. And even more serious, the Blood Bank did not have one single unit of my blood type in stock. So an appeal was sent out publicly for blood donations by my eldest son, along with asking friends, and miraculously, we received an enormous response!
My son had gone downstairs to take a breather, as it was just too much for him to bear when he saw that his mother was near death, and saw a friend who happened to be at the hospital doing business at that time! When his friend heard of the situation, he offered to donate immediately as he had my blood type. He became my first donor! What a miracle! My son drove with hazard lights through the thick afternoon traffic to the Blood Bank just for me to get the first unit of blood. Our joy was short-lived, though, as my veins collapsed, which made it difficult for my doctors to find at least two veins to continue my transfusions, but they soon found them.
HARDWORKING STAFF
Alarmingly, as I received the first three units of blood, I was losing it. I could not see past the next five minutes of my life, but I held on to my dear God. The doctors and nurses fought hard to save my life. They were excellent! They were able to bring my blood level up to a healthier level and performed emergency surgery with great success!
Altogether, before, during and after surgery, I received enormous units of blood and frozen fresh plasma.
I write what is in my heart in the hope that at least one person is better off for having read this. I pray that you will find encouragement and inspiration from my experience. I pray God will bless you in many ways and in every area of your life with every visit you make to the National Blood Transfusion Service islandwide to donate blood.
It has been an experience, but I am living in heartfelt gratitude. The enormous support of my blood donors has had me in awe, and the love I received was just out of this world. I got the nickname ‘Celebrity’ because the National Blood Transfusion Service wondered about the volume of persons coming in to donate blood for this lady. They asked, ‘Who is Natalie Peart-Thompson? Is she a celebrity?’ They also asked the donors in the room who were donating blood for Natalie PeartThompson, to all go to one side of the room. Everyone went to one side and left just one person remaining on the opposite side.
Yes, I am a celebrity. I walked into the hospital a very sick lady, and became, miraculously and in an extraordinary way, a celebrity through blood donations. I am a celebrity for the National Blood Transfusion Service! How could I not be? I am a celebrity for the love and human spirit of the Jamaican people. There is the power of our people to save lives; donate today! I am continually saying a big prayer of thanks, and gratitude that God put us all into the same little corner of His beautiful world. This little corner called Jamaica.