Deanna Cardone is a planner. By 10 years old, she knew she wanted to establish a career, get married at 26 and have two kids by 35. But what she couldn’t have predicted was that she and her husband would struggle to conceive before experiencing a high-risk pregnancy with twins.

Deanna’s water broke at just 30 ½ weeks and she delivered 3 lb., 5 oz Adam and 3 lb., 8 oz Evan on her wedding anniversary, Nov. 13, 2019. The boys were small but healthy and spent several weeks in the NICU while Deanna made great strides recovering at home. But on Thanksgiving night, just two weeks after giving birth, Deanna woke up bleeding heavily. 

“Large blood clots kept coming, one after another,” she says. “Getting ready to go to the hospital, I passed out in the bathroom. I woke up to my husband splashing water on my face and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.”

The bleeding persisted, and because her levels were so low, Deanna received a blood transfusion. “I have needle phobia, so I was nervous, but I started to feel better almost immediately afterward,” she says. “I’m so grateful that my blood type was available when and where I needed it. I’m here today because of a selfless blood donor.”

Despite life’s curveballs, Deanna is optimistic. “Life doesn’t always go according to plan, and nobody plans on needing blood,” she says. “That’s why I decided to overcome my needle phobia and donate blood for the first time two years ago on World Blood Donor Day, to give back what someone else gave to me: a second shot at life.”

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.