“What happened to you is the most common reason why women die in childbirth. Not only in developing countries, but in Australia too. Even here at Manly hospital.”
It was three days after the birth of my daughter and the softly-spoken midwife was stroking my hand as she looked me straight in the eye.
“Someone was watching over you that day, Cecilia,” she said.
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It was at that very moment I realised what actually went down in those hours after giving birth, and by then I had been a mother long enough to feel a raging sadness at the very prospect of my daughter growing up without a mum.
A severe post-partum haemorrhage nearly wiped me out on that rainy Wednesday morning in July 2010, but skilled medical staff and five units of blood brought me back from the brink of death.
Perhaps "someone" did watch over me that day, but I like to think that five generous Australians saved my life.
Five blood donors who selflessly took time out of their busy lives to pop into a Red Cross donor centre and give the simple gift of life.
The average blood donation takes 30 minutes. The typical Australian spends seven hours per week on Facebook.
Every week Australia needs more than 27,000 blood donations, and the demand for blood and blood products is expected to grow by 100 per cent over the next 10 years.
Today is World Blood Donor Day, but not a day goes past without me being grateful for those people who gave me back my life and allowed me to watch my little girl grow up.
One in three Australians will need blood or blood products in their lifetime, but only one in 30 gives blood each year.
What's your excuse?
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The Australian Red Cross Blood Service is currently in need of the universal O Negative blood type due to a recent increase in demand. O Negative is the only type that can be used in an emergency situation regardless of the patient's own blood type. Visit the Australian Red Cross Blood Service website to make an appointment to donate blood.
