Tasmanian woman whose baby died at 21 weeks of campaigns to increase the number of blood donors



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Update

October 28, 2018 13:10:51

Moments after Felicity Griggs' 21-week-old daughter died in her arms, she began thinking about her daughter's legacy.

"It's one of those situations that is tearing families apart and I knew that if we did not work together to do something positive, it would crush us," she said.

At 21 weeks of pregnancy with her third child, Ms. Griggs had a placental abruption – her placenta began to emerge from her uterus, causing massive bleeding.

Her baby was successfully delivered by emergency caesarean section, but the joy was short lived.

A day later, Mrs. Griggs was losing so much blood that she had to have surgery again for a hysterectomy.

"I lost more than once the value of my blood in hemorrhage, so literally without a word of exaggeration, I would not be here today without the donors of blood."

Shortly after the end of Ms. Griggs' operation, baby Frankie died.

To help them overcome their grief, Felicity and Jason Griggs decided to try to educate the public about blood donation – and that would be baby Frankie's legacy.

"Since I was still there and my family did not have to bury us both, and knowing that blood donors were the only thing to do to make that happen, we knew that we had to go ahead with just promoting, "Ms. Griggs said.

She sent a post on Facebook, sharing her story.

Since then, more than 50 friends and loved ones donated blood and shared "selfies" on social media with the hashtag "#ForFlickForFrankie".

"It gave us a small goal and an end so that people would begin to realize the importance of blood donation, as I said before, I would not have had a wife. if people had not made a donation in advance, "said Mr. Griggs.

Constant need for blood

The first donor, Kristy Ingram, was inspired by Ms. Griggs' Facebook post.

"She drew attention to the donor shortage and I had never done it before, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to do it with her." really special. "

The Red Cross Blood Bank relies on 25,000 donations a week nationwide to maintain its blood supply.

It is estimated that one in three Australians will need a blood transfusion, but only one in 30 donates – and of these, only a few are regular donors.

Nineteen percent of pregnant women need blood products each year.

Ann Harvey, of the Red Cross Blood Service in Hobart, said that it was wonderful that the Griggs were raising awareness.

"It's really remarkable and we have no words to express our gratitude for sharing his story, because people will respond with force."

Harvey said the strongest demand was for the negative (0 negative) universal blood group, which is heavily relied on in emergency situations.

The cold and flu season of last year has caused a serious shortage of staff, even the Red Cross has turned to social media to solicit urgent donations.

Ms. Griggs needed 28 units of negative zero.

"What better meaning could have a lost life than saving other lives," she said.

Topics:

pregnancy and childbirth,

health,

social media,

community and society,

pain,

Hobart 7000,

Launceston-7250,

heap

First posted

October 28, 2018 08:16:09

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