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Woman Reunites With Blood Donors Who Saved Her Life To Say 'Thank You'

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- A Bay Area woman who nearly died while giving birth met the strangers who saved her life at a unique reunion with her blood donors on Saturday.

One by one, survivor Emily Peters hugged the strangers who kept her alive. It took here a year to track down her donors.

"Thank you for the blood, thank you for my life, thank you for being here so I can say thank you to you," she said.

Janis Peterson is one of more than a dozen donors who'd given blood that Peters received.

"Excuse me if I'm getting a little emotional," she said. "It's so exciting to be here and actually meet somebody who, I mean, they received my blood and as a result they're here with us today."

While delivering her daughter Lucy, one of Peter's arteries had torn. Doctors say she lost so much blood, she could have died.

Emily remembers giving birth before passing out.

"And I woke up about 36 hours later in the ICU having received 31 units of blood to save my life."

Dr. Tami Rowen was Peter's doctor.

"She had lost so much blood that her body had lost the ability to clot blood," she said.

Peter's doctor also had a part in saving her life and is now watching Peters save others.

"To watch her recovery and how amazing she was, was so special," said Rowan, fighting tears.

One year after giving birth to her daughter, Peters is now paying it forward. She is now a regular blood donor and she says the first time she donated, her daughter was by her side.

"It was incredible. I mean what do you say to somebody who gave you their blood and they had no idea that they even did it and that it was going to have that impact on somebody. It's really, really special," she said.

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