A Family's "Thank You"
by Jennifer Gillies

When Joanna and Aaron Drake found out they were expecting their first child in September 2005, they were thrilled. Young, healthy and with no history of medical problems, the Drakes were looking forward to becoming first-time parents and welcoming their child into the world.

After attempting to induce labour, Joanna, Aaron and their doctor decided that it was best to have the baby by C-section at BC Women's Hospital. At 12:23pm on September 21, 2005, happy and healthy baby Natalie was introduced to the world. It should have been the happiest moment of her parent's lives.

But when Aaron, with Natalie in his arms, walked across the hospital room to show her off, he saw a pool of blood on the floor. It was Joanna's blood.

Doctors hustled father and daughter out of the room and worked to stem the hermorrhaging. Aaron, Natalie and the rest of the family waited 45 minutes before the doctors told them that while they had slowed Joanna's bleeding, they had not managed to stop it.

The hospital staff made immediate arrangements to send Joanna to Vancouver General Hospital for emergency surgery. The surgery was scheduled to take about an hour, but it was three hours before Aaron would hear how his wife was doing.

Despite their best attempts, the surgery team could still not stop Joanna's bleeding. At this point, Joanna has already received ten units of blood.

The doctors considered their shrinking options and reviewed Joanna's chart and x-ray results, searching for the source of the bleeding. Joanna's mother and Aaron waited with her in the operating room; Aaron placed his hand on Joanna's stomach and prayed.

When the doctors checked Joanna a few minutes later to see if anything had changed and make a decision about what to do next, they discovered what everyone had been hpoing: somehow, miraculously... the bleeding had stopped.

Joanna required another two units of blood later that night to help replenish all that she had lost. Two days later, doctors were thrilled to tell the family that she was fine and showing no signs of further complications. Joanna officially checked out of the hospital and was sent home a few days later.

Aaron says it best when he talks about his belief that we live in the kind of society that Pierre Trudeau characterized as a "Just Society": a society built on an unwritten social contract where citizens give and take as needed, where people who may never have the opportunity to meet one another share their health and vitality because they can. Joanna needed blood and thanks to a group of people she had never met, it was available. Aaron feels that he and his family are hugely indebted to blood donors and they feel honoured to live in a society where strangers give of themselves so that others may live.

In total, Joanna received 12 units of blood: more blood than was in her body. Of course, little Natalie slept through the majority of the experience. But because blood was available when it was most needed, she now entertains Mom and Dad with her incredible Michael Flatley imitation in her Jolly Jumper and her steadfast refusal to accept a bottle (although she deems a sippy cup up to her standards!).