Thank You for Being a Piece of the Healing: Thea Troendle’s Story

By Lubna Albadawi

Thea Troendle still remembers the five quiet minutes her newborn daughter laid on her chest. Five minutes of joy. Of wonder. Of everything she ever dreamed of.

Then, everything changed.

Austin and Thea Troendle, with their daughter, Sage.

“I don’t remember much after that,” she says softly.

What followed was an emergency most of us only read about. A severe postpartum hemorrhage due to a rare and undiagnosed condition—placenta accreta—caused Troendle’s body to lose over 4.5 liters of blood. In a small rural hospital with limited resources, every second mattered.

“I was told I received 25 units of blood products,” she recalls. “Without them, I wouldn’t be here.”

A Fight to Live

Troendle was airlifted from the rural hospital where she delivered to a trauma facility two hours away.

“I was losing blood faster than they could put it in,” she says.

She doesn’t remember the emergency surgery. Or being on a ventilator. Or her husband, Austin, holding their newborn daughter alone, not knowing if she would survive.

But she remembers waking up. She remembers realizing she had survived. And she remembers asking herself the question that still echoes in her mind:“Why am I still here?”

The Doctor Who Saved Her Life

Looking back, Troendle credits her doctor’s swift and life-saving decision to transfer her to a larger trauma facility with a full blood bank. “She advocated for me when it mattered most,” she says. “She made the call that saved my life.”

But her doctor didn’t stop there.

Months later, as Troendle planned her Red Cross blood drive, that same doctor showed up—not in scrubs, but as a blood donor.

“She’s been a huge part of my healing journey,” Troendle says. “I wouldn’t be here without her. To see her donate at my blood drive… it meant everything.”

Finding Purpose in the Pain

Over a year has passed, but Troendle carries the memory—and the weight—of what happened. In that pain, she found a purpose: to give back the 25 units of blood that saved her life.

“After something like that, you feel like everything is out of your control,” she says. “Hosting this blood drive is something I can control. It’s my way of giving back. It’s my way of healing.”

She hopes her story opens space for conversations, especially around maternal health and birth trauma. “There’s so much we don’t talk about,” she says. “And sometimes you feel like your story is too heavy for the world. But if it can help just one person feel less alone... then it’s worth it.”

A Mother's Message

The Troendles, now raise their daughter, Sage, in the same Iowa town where they both grew up. Troendle, a local teacher, says that motherhood has deepened her sense of connection to her community—and her desire to give back.

“It’s still hard to talk about what happened,” she says. “You don’t plan for something like this. But I’m here. And that means something.”

She speaks to every donor with deep gratitude.

“To those who donate… thank you for being a piece of the healing,” she says. “Although my story has many broken parts, you’ve helped mend it. I wouldn’t be a mom to my baby without people like you.”

Moving Forward

Troendle is already planning future blood drives. She dreams of starting a support group for other women who’ve experienced birth trauma. Maybe even writing a book. But for now, she’s doing what she can—one blood drive at a time.

“I remind myself every day: yes, this story includes trauma. But it also includes love, survival, and hope,” she says.

And as she reflects on everything she’s carried since that day, Troendle says:

“I carry around so much weight of my birth trauma. And I feel some of that weight has been lifted by hosting a blood drive—to give back to others and be a healing piece to someone else’s story.”

Your blood donation can make a difference to families just like the Troendles. Find a blood drive near you by visiting redcrossblood.org.