Louisville mother credits blood donations with saving life, after clinically dying twice

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The noises coming from inside Priyanka Marfatia's Louisville home all point to the welcomed chaos of being a parent.

There's some playing and some crying, but there's no forgetting that all of it was never guaranteed.

"I was in a very jolly mood, Marfatia said. "Everything was perfect."

She's talking about last November, after the final "family of three" pictures and snuggles, and she wasn't far from pushing.

"I was all excited," she said.

All of it changed in moments in her Baptist Hospital bed.

"I turn around to go to sleep, and the next thing I know I'm bleeding profusely," Marfatia said.

"I hear Code Blue on the OB floor," her husband, Jignesh Shah recalled.

"The source was my uterus," Marfatia explained.

There was an emergency c-section and a baby born in 8 minutes, but Priyanka's life was in jeopardy.

"I had already lost my life like twice," Marfatia said.

A nurse named Becky, doctors, and a whole lot of donated blood brought her back from the brink.

"I lost like 35 pack units of blood," she said. "That's an approximation. Gunshot wounds usually get about 15. Even then, there's not much of a chance that they survive."

During her third chance at life, she has a message.

"It is so important to give blood," Marfatia said.

The Kentucky Blood Center says ever since the pandemic donations have been really scarce.

"The facts are about 64-65 percent of people are eligible to give blood, but only about 3 percent do," Eric Lindsey with the Kentucky Blood Center said.

"If people don't donate blood, or become selfish about it, people aren't going to make it," Marfatia said.

It gave her the chance to give her little girl the name Seva, which means selfless. If Seva grows up to be anything like her mom, it's a name she deserves.

"It has been nothing but a miracle," Marfatia said.

The WDRB Blood drive runs through Thursday, and there are some big perks to donating!

Go to the Hillview or Middletown locations today to donate, and you'll get a coupon for a free pint of ice cream from Blue Bell, a free dozen donuts certificate from Jeff's Donuts, and a coupon for a free appetizer from Texas Roadhouse, and a free t-shirt.