Keri's story
“They didn’t just give me my life, they gave my children their mummy.”
When Keri gave birth to her third child, Lucy, in December 2015, everything seemed to go smoothly until a rare complication turned life-threatening.
Keri was diagnosed with placenta increta, a condition where the placenta grows into the muscle of the uterus. It caused a massive haemorrhage shortly after birth.
She lost over 8 litres of blood and needed 42 units of blood products to survive, including red blood cells, plasma and platelets.
“The porters were bringing in the blood and as they handed the blood over, the doctors were sending them straight back for more,” said Keri. “I know they had to bring more down by motorbike.”
Keri was rushed into emergency surgery and placed under general anaesthetic. She woke up two days later in intensive care.
“I was worried I wasn’t going to make it,” she said. “It was very surreal. They were talking to me throughout. It was quite traumatic. I was just trying to get through it and thinking of my children.”
Keri had experienced a retained placenta during a previous birth and had a gut feeling something might go wrong this time. Before going into hospital, she even told her mum she was thinking of writing a letter to her children, just in case.
Thanks to the quick actions of the medical team and the generosity of donors, Keri survived.
I will be eternally grateful to those donors, without them I wouldn’t be here to see my three children grow up.
"They would have been left without a mum and my youngest wouldn’t have even met me.”
She added: “They didn’t just give me my life, they gave my children their mummy.”