BUFFALO, N.Y. — It's a reunion one year in the making. Kenmore couple, Deanna and Mark Hall, visited the Sisters of Charity Hospital doctors who saved Deanna's life on June 3 after delivering baby Abby, her fifth child.
"It's not my first time at the rodeo. I expected the outcome to be just like the other deliveries. It was not," Deanna said.
Deanna said her pregnancy was normal, only suffering from minor gestational diabetes, and the delivery itself was one of her fastest and easiest. The baby was healthy, but shortly after giving birth, Deanna could not stop bleeding. Doctors say she lost 2.5 liters of blood in seconds.
"I quickly started feeling my body going numb," said Deanna. "I would see my doctor's arm, every time she'd reach for a towel it was just covered in blood. The whole room was covered in blood. But my doctors worked really well, and quickly, and they did everything they were supposed to do."
Dad said he felt like he was in shock as he was holding his newborn daughter, but watching his wife suffer a medical emergency.
"You don't know what to do. You can't help. As the father in that situation you just feel in the way, but you want to help. You're scared and filled with joy at the same time," said Mark.
Doctors Jodi Ball and Elspeth Call knew this post-partum hemorrhage was an emergency in which every second counted.
"So remaining calm and relying on what you know to do in that situation is the most important thing for everybody," said Dr. Ball.
They tried traditional methods to stop the hemorrhage, but they quickly turned to a brand new device they just trained on weeks prior and had never actually used before. It's called the JADA System. It's used to go inside the uterus when the uterus cannot contract on its own.
"So this really allows the uterus to clamp down better while actually suctioning out that blood and letting the uterus collapse to it's normal size," Dr. Call said.
According to a Sisters Hospital spokeswoman, Deanna was the first mom that this device was used on, and Sisters was the first hospital to have the device, so ultimately she was the first patient in Western New York to receive this treatment.
The doctors say Deanna lost half her blood volume in the hemorrhage, but after using the JADA, she only lost a cup of blood. With the Jada System inserted for 6-8 hours, Deanna was given more blood and ultimately was able to be discharged in just two days, never even having to go to the ICU.
The traditional methods to deal with a postpartum hemorrhage include medication, packing the uterus with gauze, and in the worst case scenarios, a hysterectomy.
"I'm very thankful to be here," Deanna said. "Without the JADA System they may not have been able to stop the bleeding and I very easily could have had a very different outcome and not have been here for my children, new born little girl and husband."
She told her doctors that in person when she met them for Abby's first birthday this month.
"I always love seeing the babies as they're growing because you wonder how everyone's doing. But Deanna, to see her being healthy and happy and just her normal self, is really the most important part," Dr. Ball said.
Hospital officials estimate since they first used the JADA on Deanna in June 2022, they've used it at least 30 more times at Sisters Hospital alone. Every Catholic Health hospital is now equipped with the device.
Deanna hopes to raise awareness for pregnant mothers to ask their doctors if the hospital that they are delivering at has this life saving technology and if they're trained on it.
That life-saving experience was life-changing for Deanna and it inspired her to pay it forward. She started a Giving Tree program with sites around WNY that offer hats, gloves, socks, and other personal care items for people to take for free if they find themselves in need. To find out more about 716 Giving Trees, visit the Facebook page here and the Go Fund Me page here.