Blood donations helped Marah Bengtson when she needed it most, so the Mankato teen organizes American Red Cross blood drives to pay back the generosity.

Bengtson, then 15, was wakeboarding with family on East Lake Jefferson in 2015 when a boat ran her over while she was floating in the water. The impact broke her femur, ulna and radius and caused severe lacerations on her left side.

She required 16 units of blood over the following days. Even while still in the hospital, her mother, Donna, said, Marah began looking into organizing a drive.

“She was still in ICU and that was a concern of hers was to replace the units of blood that she took out of the system,” she said.

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