# @americanredcross on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CoZ9rcZsLwE
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/72591917-americanredcross-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/f1e50d2e75.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-02-08T15:01:15.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** American Red Cross (@americanredcross) — https://gondola.cc/americanredcross

## Caption

"I had a difficult time when my daughter was born and so I wasn't sure how it was going to go with my son. I had a scheduled C-section with my son and I went home for about 10 days when I had a delayed hemorrhage. It was an emergent situation pretty quickly. Luckily OBGYN's office was at the hospital, so they wheeled me down and did what ended up being a whole afternoon of emergency surgery. I needed 15 units of blood and lost about half my blood volume. I am embarrassed to admit I had only given blood once before that, and I started after that.

...If people hadn't given blood, I wouldn't be here to parent my children. I felt incredibly selfish for not having given that part of me as much as I should have before. I've tried to make up for it since then. I've made blood donation a regular part of my life. I'm really proud my son goes [with me], and he recognizes the full circle moment of doing it. It's one of my proudest moments to be lying in the bed next to him giving blood. It's something I'll never forget. He had a good experience and said, 'It's great to give money or stuff, but there's nothing like giving blood. I mean, that is life.'

I don't want people to have to go through what I did to understand why we all need to be donating blood as regularly as we can."

Brooke Wagner is a news anchor for KOLD in Tucson, Arizona. When she lost half of her blood supply following the birth of her son, she became a regular blood donor and encourages others to donate blood. Being with her son for his first blood donation was a moment she'll never forget. Tap the link in our bio to schedule an appointment to donate blood. #StoriesThatinspire

## Stats

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- **Likes:** 455
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- **Comments:** 5

## Tags

storiesthatinspire

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