Middleburg, Florida
On March 20, 2020, I received the call no parent wants: I needed to get to the hospital in Gainesville, Florida. My oldest son had been in an accident.
When I got to Gainesville, my son was in emergency surgery. He had bled to death in the ER.
I waited in the hospital with his brother, sister, and some other family members. I had rubbed the skin off my hand anxiously waiting for the doctor. After 6 hours, the doctor came out and looked me straight in my eyes and said, “I do not know if he will make it through the night.”
My heart dropped to the ground. I was terrified. I went into the room where my son was on life support and was cleaned up but lifeless. I had been in nursing in my teens and early 20s, so I knew a lot of what was going on, and it did not look good. I prayed and prayed that God would please save my son.
Over the next 5 days, it was surgery after surgery, and 26 units of blood. They had finally gotten the bleeding to stop. Knowing that there is a higher power, and with 2% chance of survival, my son is alive and well.
He suffered from a broken neck and back. Internally, he had his liver cut in half, colon, spleen, and pancreas. So it was a long shot on full recovery. Covid hit, and the hospital was only doing emergency surgeries at this point. I did not leave the hospital from the minute I got there and did not let my son know of how scared I was. My husband had passed the year prior, and my children and I were still grieving his loss. I could not have handled my son passing away.
If it were not for OneBlood having supplies for hospitals and the donors doing this, my son would not be alive. I can never ever thank OneBlood and the doctors enough for the FULL recovery of my son. Today, he is working his job, NO pain medication, and he is fully recovered.
