A metro woman who almost died during childbirth is giving back.
After an amniotic fluid embolism last year, she said it’s amazing she’s alive. Meghan Jolliffe said it wasn’t just doctors and nurses that saved her life, but donors as well.
Jolliffe said she was so happy to give birth to her son in February 2018 when her scheduled induction turned into an unexpected fight for her life.
Her father, Russell Viers, said he hadn’t planned to go to the hospital right away to give his daughter space, but then he got a phone call he never expected from her husband.
“He said you need to get down here,” Viers said. “It’s bad.”
Jolliffe said her doctor immediately started blood transfusions and gave her 109 units of blood. The average person has between eight and 12 units in their body. Jolliffe said it took seven hours for doctors to stabilize her.
Her kidneys began to fail and had to have dialysis treatments. She said her heart stopped for 14 minutes, and she was rushed to the ICU for an emergency c-section.
Jolliffe said her son didn’t have oxygen for seven minutes and was moved to the NICU.
“He was brain-dead for three days, and he shouldn’t be here,” Jolliffe said. “I had a 10% survival rate, and I shouldn’t be here. And blood and these amazing people are why I’m here.”
Leave a Reply