Blood Donation Saved Bridgewater Mom's Life After Birth, Now She Is Helping To Save Others

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Three Bridgewater mothers, who are uniquely passionate about raising public awareness about perinatal complications and the enormous need for blood, are hosting a blood drive on Monday.

Casey Cattell, Brianna Zarenkiewicz, and Minal Patel of the Bradley Gardens section of the Township are hosting a blood drive on Jan. 27 to coincide with National Blood Donor Month and Maternal Health Awareness Day on Jan 23.

The drive will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Bradley Gardens Volunteer Fire Company at 24 Old York Road in Bridgewater with a goal of collecting 100 units of blood.

This blood drive is especially close to Cattell as she received 22 units of blood to save her life following the birth of her son Nathan in 2017.

"We tried to have Nathan for over 10 years. We struggled with infertility, and it took us about 13 years before I could get pregnant. And then when I did, it was great. I wasn't sick or anything," said Cattell to Patch. "But then by week 24, I was brought to the hospital with what ended up being a bilateral pulmonary emboli. So that's two blood clots in each of the main pulmonary arteries in your lungs. That was pretty scary."

Cattell ended up being high risk for the rest of the pregnancy and was placed on blood thinners. Then an even scarier moment happened one week after Nathan was born.

She wasn't feeling well and called her doctor three times. The doctor reassured her that everything was fine and these were just symptoms from the C-section.

"What we didn't know was that I was bleeding internally, and by the time I got to the hospital, my blood pressure had gotten to 37 over 25. Somehow I was still conscious, but I ended up losing five liters of blood and had been bleeding from six different sites internally. So that was a very eye-opening, scary, scary ordeal," said Cattell.

Cattell had to immediately go in for emergency surgery where she received 22 units of blood.

"I went into surgery not knowing if I was going to come out and see my family again. And that has a way of changing your life and your perspective on things. And I truly am just so grateful to see Nathan grow up," said Cattell. "If I could pass that gift of life to another family in crisis, whether it's a new mom or a cancer patient or an accident victim or whatever, it's just so incredibly meaningful having gone through that myself."

Cattell said the amount of blood she received is equivalent to 22 blood donors who saved her life. Now she has made it her mission to support and raise awareness for maternal health advocacy and blood drives.

Joining her cause, Cattell reached out to her friend Brianna Zarenkiewicz, who is an OBGyn Physician's Assistant working for a medical group in Lehigh Valley, PA for the past 19 years.

Zarenkiewicz has seen the rising rates of maternal mortality/ morbidity as well as the impact safe blood products have on obstetric outcomes. She also introduced Cattell to Mina Patel who is a long time regular blood donor committed to giving nearly every 56 days (the donor eligibility limit).

"You're keeping families together when you donate blood. And there are people in our communities that are walking around living their lives because of that half hour blood donation that you made," said Cattell.

Because of the blood donations Cattell received she can see Nathan's kindergarten graduations, his swim lessons, and more.

"I'm here to pick him up after school every day, and he runs to me," said Cattell. "It's like those little things are just all painted gold."

On Monday, Jan. 27, in addition to the blood and platelet collection, the drive is planning to have maternal health informational tables, refreshments, and some door prizes for presenting donors.

For more information see the flyer below or to book an appointment visit rwjuhdonorclub.org or call 732-235-8100 ext. 221.

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