Christiana Oduh didn't know anything about pre-eclampsia until she nearly died during her pregnancy. She walked into her doctor's office around the fifth month of her pregnancy, after days of severe headaches and nausea and was immediately rushed to the hospital.  The doctors also said it was extremely unlikely that her baby born at 27 weeks weighing a mere 1 pound 9 ounces would survive.

Preeclampsia and related disorders such as HELLP syndrome and eclampsia are most often characterized by a rapid rise in blood pressure that can lead to seizure, stroke, multiple organ failure and death of the mother and/or baby.

Black women have higher incidences of pre-eclampsia, but researchers have yet to pinpoint why. "We know that when black woman experience the disorder, they are more likely to have a more severe form that shows up as early as six months into pregnancy," said Thelma Patrick, an assistant investigator at the Magee-Womens Research Institute in Pittsburgh, who has researched the issue.

Not only did Christiana survive the ordeal plus an additional emergency surgery days later, but her tiny baby with a slim chance to live is now a thriving and active junior in high school. They call her Katherine the Great. And rightly so.

Christiana, who lives in a suburb of Chicago, gives much credit to God for giving her the strength and wisdom to pull through her own health challenge and then properly care for her daughter. In more practical matters, she thanks Avon.

After 10 weeks in the hospital baby Katherine was allowed to come home still only weighing 3 pounds, 14 ounces, but Christiana and her husband knew the road ahead would long and challenging--their daughter would need many therapies, treatments and doctor visits for a long time.

There was no way Christiana could properly tend to her baby's health needs and maintain her demanding corporate job. "And I couldn't imagine leaving her care in somebody else's hands," she says.

That's where Avon came in. Christiana had been selling Avon off and on since high school and had even paid for much of her college tuition costs by selling Avon.

Now she saw a way to earn money and have the flexibility to give her daughter the time and care she needed. She made all of her baby's food. Christiana says she delivered orders with her baby wrapped to her chest or on her back and was able to make every appointment Katherine needed.

Four years later, she defied the doctor's advice and became pregnant again. "I never wanted my child to be an only child." This time, she had a full-term pregnancy and delivered her daughter Felicia, now 13 years old, by C-section. 

Once again, selling Avon allowed Christiana to be the kind of mother she wanted to be and have the flexibility to make all school events and doctor appointments. Today, her sales exceed $200,000 a year,  she has married to her husband Nicholas for 19 years and along with several community involvements she is also donating money to help build a school her home country of Nigeria. Christiana was recently featured in Avon's latest national commercials.

"Avon is a big part of my life," says Christiana. Even when she was in the hospital delivering her second child she worried about orders, made several deliveries before her scheduled C-section, and sat in the hospital, even in pain, talking about her moisturizers. "What kind of lady are you?" the nurses would ask her. "I'm an Avon lady."

Today her advice for life is much like her advice for building her Avon business: "Stay focused. Never give up," Christiana says.  

Learn more about Christiana at http://coduh.avonrepresentative.com/?CUST_ID=0&SECURITY_TOKEN=&BRAND_ID=0&setlang=1 

FULL DISCLOSURE, FOLKS: I am a paid brand ambassador for AVON. My views are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Avon and its affiliates.