Paying it back: Mother and son host replenishment blood drive

Apr. 19—RIO RANCHO — Sept. 16, 2023, should have have been a day Joey Vigil looks back on fondly. The 24-year-old had ridden out to Rio Rancho from Albuquerque on his four-wheeler with a group of friends to attend an event. One of his friends, who was working that day, drove up later in the day to Rio Rancho to meet the group.

"When (Vigil's friend) got there, he was like, 'I need gas' and I gave him a couple bucks and ended up going with him to go get gas," Vigil recalled. The pair rode to the gas station, filled up and drove back to the group.

Vigil admits the pair didn't exactly drive safely during the return trip. "I shouldn't have been following him that fast or following him in general, because he had no brakelight, and I couldn't see exactly where the trail went," he said.

The trail ahead led off a ravine cliff and into a cement arroyo. Vigil ended up driving off the cliff and nosediving into the arroyo. The handlebars of his four wheeler went straight into his stomach and punctured his liver and lung. The major artery connected to the bottom of his heart also was severely damaged, causing extensive internal bleeding.

Moments after the crash, Vigil said, it felt like someone had kicked him in the stomach. "I sat there for a second and was trying to catch my breath, but as time went on, it just kept getting worse because of all the internal bleeding, and it felt like I was drowning," he said.

He sat on his four-wheeler for the next five minutes trying to catch his breath, while his friend who he had been riding back with told him he couldn't stay with him because he was on probation. Vigil ended up calling his friends who were still at the event . The group rushed over to find Vigil still struggling to breathe.

"One of my friends, her name is Carmen Sanchez, she was holding me and said my breaths were getting more shallow as time went on," he said. The group called 911 and an ambulance a transported Vigil to the University of New Mexico Hospital.

Meanwhile, Vigil's mother, Brenda Murray, was having dinner with family and decided to call Vigil to check on him. When one of his friend's answered the phone and told her about the accident, Murray drove to meet Vigil at the hospital, not knowing the full extent of his injuries or the severity of the crash.

"His blood pressure was so low and there was so much internal bleeding, (medical staff) couldn't stabilize him to give him a CAT scan, so they took him straight to the operating room and that's when they discovered the liver injury," Murray said.

Doctors were able to stabilize Vigil after this initial operation and performed a CT scan on him that revealed the full extent of the damage to his artery. In order to save his life, Vigil would undergo bypass surgery.

Prior to the surgery, "they did ask us if we wanted to see a chaplain, and as a family we said 'Thank you, but no,'" Murray said. "We prayed that God returned Joey to us. I was not ready to let my son go."

The bypass operation succeeded, however. Vigil spent roughly 46 days in the hospital during two separate stays, required six surgeries, had 30% of his liver removed and received 74 blood transfusions.

Every time Vigil received blood, Murray promised herself that she would donate blood in return. In January, she was speaking with a coworker about New Year's resolutions and was asked what hers were. She said it was to donate blood.

"And (Murray's coworker) said, 'We should (do) a blood drive' and I said, 'You know that's a fantastic idea,'" she said. "So I asked my administrator and he was all for it, so I worked to facilitate a blood drive here at the University of New Mexico Sandoval Regional Medical Center."

In order to get the resources in place, Murray called Drew Sharpless, the senior account manager at Vitalant. "(Murray) wanted to set up a blood drive, what we call a replenishment blood drive, for her son, who used 74 units of blood while in hospital," Sharpless said. The goal of a replenishment blood drive is to replace the amount of blood a recipient received.

Each person donating blood on Friday donated roughly a pint of blood, which is enough to treat three people.

Among those giving blood was Don Shainin. A retired firefighter with 21 years of service, Shanin hadn't donated blood in over 20 years . He said he was inspired to donate blood after watching a video detailing Vigil's story.

"My conscience pushed me over here, and some people might need this (blood)," he said. "I might even need (blood) one day myself."

As Murray sat in the back of a room and watched person after person register to give blood, she was taken aback by their generosity.

"It's special. It makes me feel good that we have this kind of support," she said. "I never want to forget what we went through as a family, and that's why I am committed to doing my part and giving back."