Need for Blood Hits Chambers Family Twice

Until 2014, Marie and Jason lived, what many would call, an ordinary life. The couple were parents of 7-year-old twins and heard the news that they were again expecting twins.

Three days after the second set of twins was born, one of the babies got very ill. Mom and dad did what any parent would do when their child is sick--took their infant to the hospital. While still in the hospital, two days later, Marie started to hemorrhage and was immediately taken to the ER where she received 6 units of blood. Thankfully, baby Chambers and Marie recovered and are grateful for the wonderful care they received at Mayo.

Marie relives the details of her family’s events in the letter below

Every day since my life-threatening, delayed postpartum hemorrhage on May 22, 2014, I awake with a grateful heart for the gift of another day here on Earth. I am thankful to the many selfless blood donors whose donations helped saved my life. There are many factors that contributed to my survival and I am very thankful that blood products were available when I was in need.

I was given a second chance at life and was relieved that I could give my husband his second chance at life when we heard that he was in need of a new kidney last year. In addition to transplanting the new kidney, doctors first had to remove his two large and diseased kidneys, which resulted in a large blood loss and required a three-unit blood transfusion during his surgery and recovery period.

Blood donation is a cause near and dear to my heart because of the need from both Jason and I. I feel so lucky for the opportunity to pay it forward when I donate blood.  In fact, I have celebrated the first two anniversaries of my hemorrhage by visiting my local blood donation center to instill a positive memory instead of the scary events of that day.

I'm so glad that I discovered the blood donation center at Mayo and that I had the opportunity to give back in a small way to a place that has given so much to us.

Thanks to blood donation, my four young children have their mother and a father with a new kidney and a new lease on life.

Thanks to Mayo my husband is living a healthy life again, completely pain free.

Best regards, Marie Chambers.