As CU Boulder celebrates 50 years of partnership with Vitalant, we wanted to take a look back and share a personal story from a CU staff member who is both a blood donor and recipient, Kate Seppala. This recipient uses her own words to describe her experience, and how it impacted her life.
As a blood donor myself, I never gave much consideration to the impact of my donations. Most of my thoughts were around staying hydrated and planning my meal times around it. Thinking back to the time I spent pumping a stress ball, waiting for the donation bag to fill, I never imagined strangers would one day save my life.
On August 3, 2022, I welcomed my beautiful daughter into the world. Finally, she was here and she was healthy. I’d heard other parents say they couldn’t relax until their baby was safely in their arms. I understood that sentiment, for a few brief moments.
Suddenly, I found myself fighting for my life. I experienced a severe postpartum hemorrhage complicated by a rare condition called a uterine inversion. An emergency code was called. Blood was thawed. A mass transfusion began within minutes. I lost half the blood in my body before we made it to the operating room.
After multiple surgeries and a night on a ventilator in the ICU, I woke up to learn I had received a whole person's worth of blood to stabilize my body.
My life was saved by blood donation. Without donor blood available at a moment’s notice, all the knowledge, skills and training of my amazing medical team wouldn’t have mattered.Throughout a grueling recovery, I never lost sight of the amazing gift given to me by people I would never meet. Blood donors gave me the chance to be a mother.
You may never meet the people you save, but I can assure you, they are grateful beyond measure.
