To all you donors, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I was In really bad shape, my aortic valve was only allowing 15% of the blood to my body and my mitral valve was in bad shape too. The net result was I could no longer breathe air (due to the pulmonary edema) and I was on oxygen. They had to change both valves and they prepared 10 units of blood. They had to stop my heart from beating for 6 hours! so the surgeon could put in the new valves, my blood was pumped by the heart lung machine. Without blood none of this would have been possible. I was given a second chance at life and time to spend with my loved ones. The gift of blood is a gift of life itself. Thank you.
