This month, we’re proud to share the incredible story of Christy Reh from Shred415 St. Louis, a true example of strength, perseverance, and the power of community.
Christy’s journey is one of resilience, recovery, and rediscovering her strength through Shred415. 
“My family and I moved to St. Louis, where I was born and raised, in April of 2024. We had been living in Chicago prior to that but needed to return near my family after I survived the traumatic birth of my second daughter. My daughter was luckily healthy but I almost lost my life. I lost 9.5 liters of blood due to DIC during an emergency C-Section and as a result needed two life saving surgeries, 19 blood transfusions and woke up on a ventilator. I experienced multi system organ failure and was in the hospital for 17 nights.
I started dialysis 24 hours after I was taken off the ventilator and although all of my other organs returned, my kidneys did not recover. With a newborn and an almost 3 year old and needing to be in a clinic for dialysis three times weekly for hours, we could not stay in Chicago as we didn’t have enough help. I was on dialysis for 50 weeks before I received my kidney transplant last October 22, 2024 from my donor and hero, Steve. He is the husband of a friend from the fitness community I had in Chicago.
Fitness has been an incredibly important part of my life and losing my body and what it used to be able to do has been an incredibly difficult loss. It has not and will likely never be the same.
I returned to Shred classes about 5 months post-transplant and had to build my stamina, strength and endurance up incredibly slowly. Shred has helped me to reconnect with those former parts of myself and show me what my body can be capable of even if I need a bit of extra recovery in between classes. It has added so much to my life, built me back up, and it feels incredibly good to be strong again. I really started from the bottom and now to be here running at my best speed and feeling amazing. I’m so grateful to have found my new fitness community in St. Louis and I can’t wait to see what my body can do next.”
Christy’s journey reminds us what it truly means to be strong inside and out. Her story is a powerful example of perseverance, hope, and community support.
We also want to take this opportunity to recognize the life-saving importance of blood and organ donation.
Donations like these make stories like Christy’s possible. Consider giving blood or registering as an organ donor. You could help save a life.
