Hero in You: Plasma donations save Winnipeg womans life [Video]

One Winnipeg woman is urging Manitobans to donate plasma as these donations are what helped save her life.

Jodi Pauls, 38, is running through life and not looking back.

“Today I feel great. I’m just so happy to be here and every day is a great day,” she said.

But like a marathon, life for this mother of three has sometimes been difficult, challenging, and presented obstacles.

In 2005, at just 18 years old, Jodi was diagnosed with TTP, a life-threatening, rare blood disorder that causes small blood clots in blood vessels throughout the body.

Those clots restrict the flow of blood to vital organs.

To save her life, doctors gave Jodi plasma therapy.

“They put in a central line catheter into my neck and would take out my bad plasma and exchange it with healthy donor plasma,” she said.

For 18 years, Jodi was healthy. She got married, gave birth to three boys, and was enjoying life as …