TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—Seventy-five donors gave at the recent blood drive held at the Knights of Columbus Mother Seton Council on Pascack Road, saving lives and scoring snacks in the process.
The drive, held July 20 to benefit local toddlers Grace Skuches and Alex Hammer, both fighting cancer, also collected for patients from all walks of life receiving care in area hospitals.
According to Rosana Tabakci, account manager and donor recruiter for drive organizer New Jersey Blood Services, those donors gave 68 units destined to help 204 patients in New Jersey and New York. Blood contains several lifesaving components: Donors can give whole blood every 56 days or up to six times a year, automated red cells every 112 days or three times a year, platelets up to 24 times a year and plasma every 28 days.
A full 40 percent of the daily need for donations is to help cancer and chemotherapy patients such as Grace and Alex, Tabakci said. Red cells also are critically needed for surgery and trauma patients, accident and burn victims, and at-risk infants.
Temperatures in the 90s might have kept some potential donors away, she speculated a few days later. The drive had prepared for 90 to 100 units. Still, there was a line out the door at first, and many others stopped in after dropping kids off or picking them up from camp.
“We were thrilled. It was successful, definitely successful. Anything helps, because one donation helps three people. We are very grateful,” she told the Pascack Press.
Summer donations needed
That said, summer blood donations are particularly needed, Tabakci said, because high school and college campuses, generally closed now, typically furnish blood banks with a quarter of their daily donations. New Jersey Blood Services holds 25 to 30 blood drives a day in New Jersey and New York, collecting 800 to 1,000 units, Tabakci explained.
Nationally, the American Red Cross says it’s facing a critical blood shortage and has issued an emergency call for eligible blood and platelet donors of all blood types to give now and help save lives. In order to maintain a safe blood supply, a seven-day inventory of all types must be continually replenished. Companies, organizations, and community groups are also encouraged to step up and host a blood drive in July or August to help rebuild the blood supply.
“Patients don’t take vacations. It is definitely hard. Blood banks work together, and we do the best we can,” Tabakci said.
Preparation is easy. NYbloodcenter.org says donors should eat at their regular mealtimes and drink plenty of fluids prior to donating. If you are donating platelets—blood clot cells—do not take aspirin, or products containing aspirin, within 72 hours before your scheduled appointment.
First-time donors gave of themselves for good cause
Donating blood proved relatively painless and very straightforward, as this reporter found, as did two folks from the community he talked to at the K of C who said they were first-time donors. Staff escorted donors through registration, health history, the donation itself and to a refreshment area, where donors enjoyed drinks and snacks—and a time out for 10 to 15 minutes before resuming their normal activities.
Township Councilmember Peter Calamari, sipping juice at the snack table after his donation, said he was there to answer the call and to conquer his lifelong fear of giving blood.
“It was very, very pleasant. Streamlined. And free Girl Scout Cookies. You couldn’t ask for any better,” he said.
Bogota residents Eric and Sherry, who arrived with their small children Jordan and Joey, said while signing up that this was his first time donating but not hers. Each took turns watching the kids as the other gave blood.
“We’re teaching them, setting an example to do good stuff,” Sherry said. She explained that she’d been alerted to the drive by an email sent by their KinderCare director. Asked whether, as a first time donor, he was nervous, Eric said “No. Why would I be?”
This reporter, a previous donor, donated because he knows his blood type—AB positive—is rare and in particular need.
Kids and their families fighting on
Grace Skuches, at six months, was diagnosed with central nervous system atypical teratoid/rhabdiod tumor, an extremely rare, difficult-to-treat pediatric brain tumor. Now 2, she has completed five rounds of chemotherapy, a stem cell harvest and three stem cell rescues. She is receiving maintenance chemotherapy.
Grace, who made an appearance at the blood drive, has endured many setbacks, such as a subdural hematoma, shunt revision, additional shunt placement, bacteremia, viral infections and a PICC reinsertion. During Grace’s multiple surgeries and chemotherapies, she has received 20 blood transfusions and 20 platelet transfusions, her family explained.
Alex Hammer was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma the day before Thanksgiving 2016. Now 4, he is being treated at Hackensack Children’s Hospital and has been through multiple rounds of heavy chemotherapy and has had many platelet and red cell transfusions along the way.
Alex is in remission, although his treatment will last another two years or so. T-cell lymphoma is a very aggressive cancer, so just as easily as it went away, it can come back, his family said.
On the day of the blood drive, he was back in the hospital, where doctors were observing him because he developed a fever. His mother and grandmother, on hand to greet donors, said Alex is a scrappy patient who keeps hospital staff on their toes.
That’s certainly in keeping with his fighting spirit, which is part of the reason the township recently named him police and fire chief for a day, and the New York City Police Department made him an honorary detective.
For more information, visit New Jersey Blood Services at NYbloodcenter.org.