Jamie Shirley first learned about placenta donation when she was pregnant with her daughter Sadie. “I was scheduled for a C-section, and it was an option that my doctor brought up,” she says. “I honestly didn’t know it was a thing.”

After doing some research, Jamie made the decision to donate her placenta after Sadie’s birth. “I thought it was really cool—a nice way to share something that I’m not going to use again. It’s a cool way of having some part of you that’s helping someone else,” she says. “It’s such a miracle that it grows that little baby and that it can help somebody afterwards.”

Jamie said the process of delivering her daughter and donating her birth tissue went smoothly. “It was a nice experience,” she says. “I plan to do it again the second round!”

People need people, make a difference in someone’s life by donating blood.

We must rely on each other for the gift of blood, and patients in your community rely on the generosity of Versiti’s blood donors to help. Please consider scheduling an appointment to donate. If this is your first time, donating blood is quick, easy and relatively painless. And, it is a great way to give back and help patients in your community.