DAVENPORT, Iowa — It was just over three years ago that Audrey Majeski gave birth to her son, Jackson.
"It was October of 2018. Pretty normal C-section, healthy pregnancy," Majeski said.
But shortly after his arrival there were complications. She suffered from a postpartum hemorrhage. Over the next 24 hours she had 20 different blood transfusions.
They saved her life.
"I saw my son's third birthday and getting ready for Thanksgiving this week because of that," Majeski said.
She didn't get to thank her donors for the blood that kept her alive, but she knows what she would say if she did.
"Thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me the opportunity to be a mom," Majeski said.
With Impact Life's 'Thank a Donor' campaign transfusion recipients can do exactly that now. Kirby Winn works for Impact Life. He says over 500 donors have been directly thanked for their donations since January of 2021.
"It might be in a really sad case where someone says this allowed us an extra three weeks with our loved one, and the transfusion made the difference," Winn said. "There's other very joyful stories of making it through a health crisis that was acute, and the blood transfusion, you know, has made the difference between life and death for those folks."
Donations are tagged with an ID number and can they be tracked by transfusion recipients if they choose.
"A recipient or if a family member or caregiver wishes to do so they can go online with some instructions that they receive at the hospital, enter the din number that corresponds with the unit of blood, or maybe you have multiple units of blood," Winn said. "And then they send along what they want to say directly to the donor."
With the holiday happening, it puts ImpactLife under the average amount of donors they see in a week. Winn says the blood bank likes to sit at around 3,600 donations a week typically. Around this time of year it is closer to 2,600.
Majeski donates all year round, especially during the holidays knowing how sudden and necessary the blood can be for someone.
"As you sit around, hopefully your Thanksgiving table this week and look around at all those that you love," Majeski said. "I'd like to know there's enough blood on the shelf for everyone, this year and every year."
You can find information on where to donate blood here.