Crossing Paths and Facilitating Patient Healing
Jenna, a labor and delivery nurse in the Denver area, had worked closely with AlloSource Donor Records Training Manager, Jami Otis, when Jami worked at Bonfils in cord blood donation. Based on this relationship, it’s only natural Jenna is an integral part of AlloSource’s placenta donation program, where mothers can donate their placentas to create the amnionic membrane product, AlloWrap.
“Mothers are so happy to be a part of it, it’s such a huge impact,” said Jenna.
She did not know, however, that her ties to donation and AlloSource would impact her own quality of life, too.
Being a nurse, Jenna is on her feet for work; sometimes more than twelve hours a day. She stays active outside of her profession as well, hiking and enjoying the great outdoors close to her home in Conifer. When she tripped and broke her foot carrying Christmas presents, she knew she would need surgery to return to nursing, hiking, and even shoveling her driveway.
Jenna shared her surgical experience in that, “I had a Jones fracture. When the surgeon fixed it, I ended up with constant pain. It wasn’t the bone he fixed that caused the pain; it was the scar tissue.”
At this point, her goal was to return to a normal level of activity with little to no pain. Four years after the initial surgery, she had a follow-up procedure, hoping it would help reduce the pain in her foot, but to no avail.
“On a scale of one to ten, each day was at least a five. Some days were worse.”
After working closely with AlloSource’s placenta donation team and helping facilitate so many new mothers with the donation of their placentas, she decided to give surgery one last try to remedy the pain. For this procedure, she reached out to Jami Otis and requested that AlloWrap be used.
“When the surgeon opened up my foot, he said it was nothing but a jumble of scar tissue.”
Eight weeks after surgery Jenna was 100 percent pain free. She can work, remain active, and even shovel the driveway on her own. She remains an advocate for AlloSource’s placenta donation program and continues to help facilitate healing by giving mothers the opportunity to donate their placentas.
“One of my favorite things in life is how you intersect with people. Because of that friendship and crossing paths, this was possible … The fact I don’t have to think about pain anymore is amazing! It’s empowering! How lucky!”