'Miracle' mum who needed 65 units of blood during birth meets NHS staff who saved her

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A mother who required 65 units of blood units during childbirth and was dubbed "a medical miracle that I'm still here" for surviving has met the NHS staff who urgently supplied the blood to the hospital.

Adele Darlington experienced a severe haemorrhage while delivering her daughter Jasmine just before Christmas last year.The 41 year old from Stockton Heath in Warrington needed blood, plasma, cryoprecipitate, and platelets during emergency surgery, including a life-saving hysterectomy, at the end of November 2023. "My husband was told to call in family to prepare to say goodbye, but thanks to everyone's work I got to spend Christmas with my family and new daughter," said the mother-of-five during an NHS appeal for Christmas and New Year blood donors.Mrs Darlington, diagnosed with placenta previa - a condition where the placenta partly or entirely covers the cervix, began bleeding during a scheduled C-section and lost a total of 15 litres of blood.

The average woman's body holds just under five litres.Following a four-hour operation during the C-section, she underwent another nine hours of surgery for a hysterectomy, tube and ovary removal, and partial cervix and bladder removal.

During the procedures, Mrs Darlington received 28 units of red blood cells, 20 units of fresh frozen plasma, nine units of cryoprecipitate, and eight units of platelets marking the largest transfusion at the hospital since 2000.The NHS Blood and Transplant's Liverpool team was instrumental in an overnight emergency situation, issuing nine critical orders to Warrington Hospital to support Mrs Darlington and other patients.