By Aleesia Benkey, American Red Cross intern

Blood donations saved Stephanie’s life, now she advocates for others to give blood to help hospital patients in need of life-impacting blood transfusions.

Stephanie Shaffer gave birth to her son via Caesarian section in April of 2007, and five days post-partum, doctors knew something was wrong. Due to a rare vascular disorder that Stephanie was born with, her spleen ruptured, causing massive internal bleeding.

She suffered a cardiac arrest for 45 minutes and received 55 units of blood in this time period alone.

Over a five-week hospital stay, Stephanie battled a series of complications and received an estimated 125 units of blood that helped save her life.

“People do not realize their impact when they come and donate. When you stop and think about it, you realize that, when you save one person's life, you save so many other people's lives,” said Stephanie.

“Because of blood donors, my son has his mother, my husband has his wife and my family has me.”

Stephanie went through a long, intensive recovery process, but she thanks the blood donors for their role in her ability to thrive.

Stephanie is grateful for the available blood supply that helped save her life and has become a lifelong blood donation advocate.

At a recent community blood drive in Irvine, Calif., Stephanie was joined by her mother, Joyce, who donated on her daughter’s behalf. During the blood drive, Stephanie personally thanked those giving blood for their time and donation, which can offer hope and healing to individuals in need.

“Blood donors save lives. Period. There’s nothing else that can replace it, it can’t be created in a laboratory,” said Stephanie. “It takes the donation from one person to save a life of another.”

To learn more about how blood donations help save lives, or to make an appointment to donate blood, please visit RedCrossBlood.org.