(WARNING - This is a long, but important, post)
I recently had an experience that left me convinced, more than ever, of the importance of donating blood. We all hear that it's life-saving, but maybe you've never heard just how life-saving it could be. So, let me share with you how just a few pints of blood can not only save a life, but save 8 children from growing up without a mother.
"B" came to me one afternoon very distressed, because she knew she was losing her pregnancy. She had 8 children at home and wasn't even sure she had wanted another baby, but now that she was losing her baby at just 14 weeks of pregnancy, she asked if there was something we could do to save her child. However, as I examined her, I saw two little legs coming out. I sadly told her that we could not save this pregnancy, which I think she already knew.
She was stable and not bleeding very much, so I took her to the ward to be admitted and gave her some medicine that would help complete the delivery. I checked on her before I went home that night and she was resting quietly in her bed, waiting for the inevitable.
I got a phone call at about 8:45 that night from the nurse on the ward asking me to come quickly. B was not doing well and was losing a lot of blood. As I headed up, I have to admit, I was thinking "I'm sure it's not that bad." Boy was I wrong! When I got there, the floor was covered with blood and as she laid on the bed, I could hear blood pouring into a basin, as if someone had turned on a faucet. B had gone to the bathroom and passed the baby there, but part of the placenta was stuck in her uterus, preventing it from contracting down to stop the bleeding. As many things were done - more IV's placed, IV fluids given, a D&C set prepared - she stared at me and asked me to help her. We gave her some IV pain medicine and I quickly did a D&C, hoping to get the remaining placenta out and stop her bleeding (at this point she had lost about a liter of blood). Even when all the placenta had been removed, she continued to bleed. I did all I knew to do - uterine massage, oxytocin, cytotec, repeat all of the above. After a few minutes, it was clear this wasn't going to work. B was becoming more and more drowsy and I knew we were in trouble.
I shook her awake and told her we needed to go to the OR quickly and remove her uterus or she was going to die. She gave a slight nod of her head, all she could manage, to give her consent. On arriving in the OR, we couldn't get a blood pressure and could barely feel her pulse. She was in shock and by the way she looked, her hemoglobin, which should be 12, was about 2. Our anesthetist looked at me with uncertainty - if she put someone so sick to sleep, would she wake up? I pointed out the blood that continued to pour from her body and told her we had to start immediately. So, we started the hysterectomy. I have never seen this before, but when I made my incision, there wasn't a drop of blood. Not a good sign! She had lost so much blood that she wasn't circulating blood to anything but her vital organs.
The lab technician had been called in and informed us that the patient was O+ and we had 2 pints of O+ blood in the hospital. We asked for these immediately, but I also knew we would need more, and fresh blood is better at resuscitating a patient. One of our visiting physicians, Gerhard Shumacher, had just the day before told me that his wife was O+. So, I had someone call her and within a few minutes, they were up at the hospital. After another few minutes, her blood was being given to B and we began to see a response in her blood pressure. While continuing her hysterectomy, I asked one of the nursing students to go to the nursing student housing and find any students who were O+ to come and give blood. After a hesitant look, she left. As I was finishing up the surgery, I asked how many had come to give. "No students came, daktari" responded the lab tech. B's blood pressure was still 60/40 and her heart rate was over 130. She needed at least one more pint of fresh blood. I happen to be O+ as well, so after I closed her skin, I took my gown off and gave a pint of blood. As it went into B's body, her blood pressure slowly responded. She received a total of 4 pints of blood. In the US, she likely would have gotten 7 or 8 pints, but we just didn't have it.
Over the next several days, B showed great improvement and on the 6th day after her surgery, she was discharged home. I had asked B what she remembered from that night and she said nothing. I told her what had happened and even joked that she now had mzungu (white person) blood in her body, which made her smile. On the day before she was discharged, I met one of her daughters. B asked me to tell her that I had given her my blood and her daughter laughed and hugged me and thanked me for saving her mom. Of course, it wasn't me that saved her. Only God could have saved her in the state she was in, and B, a Christian, praised Him for that.
After it was all said and done, I wondered why, out of 80+ nursing students, not a single one had come forward to donate. I asked around and found 2 main themes - they were either afraid to be tested for HIV, or they thought that they would become sick or weak if they donated. I was so saddened to hear these students, future healthcare professionals, give such feeble excuses for why they couldn't save someone's life. I have since talked to the nursing students about the importance of blood donation and how we, as healthy individuals, can handle donating one pint of blood.
I think 2 things can be learned from this. First, the importance of donating blood cannot be overstated. Stories like this are happening all over the world, including in the US, every day. B would not be alive today were it not for the blood she received. And 8 children would be without a mother.
Second, what a perfect parallel to the life-saving power of the blood that Christ shed on the cross for us. I pray that this story can serve to emphasize to those who don't know Him that He gave His blood to save us for eternity. What an assurance to know that we serve a God who gave of Himself to save us and that His blood was all we needed.
"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace, that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." Eph. 1:7-8
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