10/05/2026
Maria is a nurse who works with mothers who choose to donate their placentas to form healing grafts. Little did she know, one day she’d be a placental graft recipient. Here is her story.
“I have a strong family history of early onset breast cancer.
My maternal grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 41.
Through a mastectomy and radiation treatment, she went on to live a full, meaningful life.
My paternal grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 39 and unfortunately died about 9 months after diagnosis.
When I was in my early twenties, I found a breast lump. I had noninvasive diagnostic testing at that time and was told the lump was benign. And although the lump remained unchanged for many years, I finally decided at age 32 to have a more formal work-up. It was then that my new obstetrician expressed concern.
After several tests, the pathology report came back that the breast contained pre-cancerous cells.
In early 2023, I decided to have a bilateral mastectomy with immediate
reconstruction of the breasts. After a nine-hour surgery, I developed skin necrosis in both breasts. This led to an additional surgery two weeks later to remove the skin.
However, the areas were left open, and dressing changes were needed with weekly wound clinic appointments for treatment. After six weeks of slow healing, the wound clinic physician ordered skin graft substitutes (healing grafts made from placental tissue).
After only three weeks and receiving three grafts total, my skin was completely healed! And as a result, I was able to spend the summer vacationing at the beach and swimming with my children.
Being a woman who has had a bilateral mastectomy is devastating enough let alone having non-healing wounds after the procedure.
Because of someone’s selfless donation, I received the placental grafts and was able to fully heal, allowing me to get back to my busy life as a mom, wife and labor and delivery nurse.”
--Maria
