Inverness woman ‘so grateful’ to blood donors who saved her life after labour
A mum who faced life-threatening complications after giving birth last year has spoken of how the situation has brought home to her even more fully how important giving blood really is.
And she has given her full backing to our Give Blood, Save Lives campaign aiming to bring in 5000 donations of blood and plasma by Easter.
Community early years practitioner Vicky McCorquodale (31) and husband Alister, from Kirkhill, were not expecting anything out of the ordinary as they looked forward to the birth of their third child.
Already mum and dad to Louie (8) and Harry (6) there had been no issues during pregnancy beyond occasionally high blood pressure for Vicky.
“Things started to go wrong when I was in labour,” she said, recalling events as they unfolded at Raigmore Hospital in late January last year.
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“They think there was a bit of the placenta retained and I started to bleed really badly as I was in the lift being taken up to high dependency for that to be removed.
“I know that they worked to stem the bleeding but it just didn’t seem to work.
“I was a bit out of it having just given birth - and the blood loss was also probably having an effect - and they were obviously trying to keep everything calm, but I was aware of concerns about the amount of blood that was coming out and the fact that it wasn’t stopping. You could tell they were working not to panic me.
“At the time you really just do whatever the doctors and nurses tell you and don’t think too much about the seriousness of what is happening but in the period that follows it really came to me how serious this was.
“I gave birth to Archie at 7.19am and less than an hour later I was being taken away and didn’t come back down to maternity until 4.30pm.
“All that time they were working to treat me, trying to get the bleeding to stop, giving me more blood, and you only think afterwards that could have been it for me: my newborn baby could have been without a mum; my other children too. I might never have seen either them or my husband again.”
Thankfully there was a happy ending, with the whole family celebrating Archie’s first birthday on January 28.
But Vicky says, even as she praises the work of the NHS staff who were there for her through delivery and beyond, she is especially thankful to those blood donors whose giving was key to her recovery.
“I had four units of blood given to me in total just to replace what I had lost,” she said.
“I will never know whose donations those were and the donors will never know that they helped me, but I’m so grateful it’s actually hard to put into words.
“Of course I’d rather not have had what happened to me happen, but if it can persuade people out there just thinking about giving blood to know that it really makes a huge difference - in this case not just for me but for my husband, my baby and my other two children - it’s worth it.
“Blood donations saved me and saved my family.
“I used to donate blood, but because of what happened to me am not able to any more.
“Anything I can do to persuade those who can give blood to do it, though, I am fully behind.
“I share all the posts from the campaign on my social media and never miss a chance to talk about the importance of giving blood whenever I can. The fact is that you never know who might be in need next - it could be you, it could be someone close to you - so if you can give, please do.”
Highland News and Media wants to bring 5000 people from across the Highlands and Moray in to give blood between now and Easter.
Appointments are available weekly at Inverness Donor Centre within Raigmore Hospital with upcoming community donation sessions also set to be held at: Invergordon Leisure Centre (February 18, 3-4.30pm and 6-7.30pm): the Lochbroom Leisure Centre, Ullapool (February 19, 2.30-4pm and 5.30-7pm); Glen Urquhart High School in Drumnadrochit (February 24, 5.30-8pm) and Nairn Community and Arts Centre (February 25, 1-3.30pm and 5-7.30pm).
Book an appointment to give blood at www.scotblood.co.uk, or call 0345 90 90 999 (Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm).
