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Melinda Ferguson, Charlotte's mom: “Charlotte was born April 13. So, that Sunday, we thought we were going to be going home. And they did some blood work because I had had a history of a platelet disorder. And Charlotte had low platelets. I think they were about 9,000. Normal is 150,000. She ended up being in the NICU for about a week, getting a couple of transfusions while she was there.”
Stephanie Kinney, MD, medical director of transfusion services: "Blood platelets are blood fragments that help the blood to clot.
Our kids that we help here at Cincinnati Children’s are very sick. Platelets are life-saving in that they help a patient from bleeding further, or help them prevent bleeding and a catastrophic event from happening.”
Erika Barrett, Emilio's Mom: “When he was born, he had a lot of bruising, little spots on him. And so at that point, they thought, you know, there's something wrong. So that’s when they did a blood test and noticed that his platelets were critically low.”
Like Charlotte, Emilio’s need for platelet transfusions was critical. Cincinnati Children’s does about 13 platelet transfusions a day. Last year, our patients needed about 4,200 platelet transfusions. The only way to get platelets is from donors.
Dr. Kinney: “There's a citywide and national shortage of platelets ongoing. And so this is why it’s very critical for donors to come out and donate this blood product.”
Edwin Vargas, Emilio's dad: “We were in a dire situation. And thanks to them, he was able to get better faster.”
Dr. Kinney: “The ideal platelet donor is a male with blood types AB or A. Women can donate platelets, but women who have been pregnant, they may have an antibody that can affect the recipient or the patient.”
Erika: “I kind of felt helpless, you know, as a mom that I couldn’t do anything for my child, but knowing that someone could help in that way, and not even know him, not even know our family, it just, it really meant a lot to me and my husband and the rest of my family.”
Melinda: "Knowing that people are going and getting stuck by a needle, which is never fun, and just thinking about other people that they don’t even know to try to help them, and to allow people like Charlotte to live a normal life. That’s just amazing."
To schedule a platelet donation, call 513-451-0910
Melinda: "It’s just the most generous thing people could do, right?”
Charlotte: "Mama."
Melinda: "Yeah."
7 ноя 2019
