Two days after she delivered a healthy baby girl Swarupa Sawant began bleeding.

Sawant remembers the time – 6:15 a.m. – when the bleeding started on January 11, 2018. "The blood wouldn't stop," she said. "My mind was blank. I was just praying, 'God, help me out of this.'"

During her pregnancy, Swarupa Sawant had developed a rare condition that caused the placenta to grow too deeply into the uterine wall. And, following delivery, the complication persisted.

Doctors acted quickly and began giving Sawant transfusions. But as the bleeding continued, the doctors realized they would need more blood than they had available at the hospital.

That's when her husband, Vinod, sprang into action. He called their family members and Sawant's co-workers and told them they needed help.

A Network of Support

Within half an hour, Sawant's colleagues in Abbott's Mumbai, India office rushed to the hospital. They circulated the request throughout their teams and about 35 Abbott employees lined up at the hospital, waiting to give blood and blood components (like red blood cells and plasma).

And it was needed.

Six hours, and a couple of close calls later, doctors brought the new mom out of surgery.

"Without their blood donations, I wouldn't have survived," said Sawant.

The quick and generous response from her colleagues is what helped Sawant stay alive while doctors worked in the operating room to stop the bleeding. And the blood donations continued to be used over the next few days as she recovered following surgery.

A Second Chance

Her husband echoes her sentiment, when asked about the efforts of her colleagues. "I really want to thank Abbott for giving my wife a second chance at life," her husband said. "All the doctors said that her survival was like a miracle."

Today, Sawant and her baby Prapti are healthy. She definitely doesn't take that for granted. Once she gets the OK from her doctor, she plans on donating blood, herself. She wants to help people the way her colleagues helped her.

"Without their blood donations, I wouldn't have survived."