Image by ANIRUDH on Unsplash
by Emily Foutz
I know everyone is busy. We are all juggling our hectic and crazy lives. It’s hard to take time to think that in a first-world nation, we would be short on something so essential, so crucial to life: blood. Blood is pretty nasty, so many people don’t stop to think of it at all, yet we all have it pumping through our veins every day. It’s our silent savior, and a lack of it is quite frightening. In fact, America is in dire need of blood. Because of COVID-19 and natural disasters including the recent hurricane, Idalia, the Red Cross is facing a blood shortage. If we don’t get donations, many will suffer – many who have life-threatening wounds or diseases and sicknesses that depend on outside blood. I was one of these people who depended on outside blood when I was a young child. I was five years old when I was diagnosed with a life-threatening cancer.
Countless people struggle with a disease or sickness that demands blood – cancers, sickle cell anemia, kidney diseases. I, along with many others, had a cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This is a cancer in which the body makes too many lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. I counted on many transfusions and bone marrow transplants to overcome this cancer. Obviously, I didn’t think much of the severity of blood donations at the age of five, which I remember mostly as a blur of spinal taps and bad-tasting medicine. But as I started getting older, I became a little more curious about blood donors. At all my checkups, the doctors would ask my mom to donate. I figured it was because she had the universal donor blood type, type O. Or she was an easy candidate to convince, considering her donation-dependent daughter sitting right next to her. I always wondered, “Why don’t they ask me? Of course if I can help save others, I want to do all I can.” One day, I asked, and I was shut down. It turned out that any individual with blood cancer, or a history of it, is never eligible to donate. My doctor told me not only leukemia, but other cancers, sicknesses, and diseases would eliminate a person from being able to donate. Factoring in weight and age requirements, we are really narrowing down the list of candidates. However, with medicine as advanced as it is now, this cancer is mostly curable if caught early. This is also possible because of the thousands upon thousands who donate blood each day. Thousands can get out there and help, when so many cannot. We can’t let these diseases become non-curable due to a lack of something so simple.
Despite the fact that there is an accessible way for most people to donate blood, it seems like they are unaware of how much they can help. There’s so much more to worry about, right? Like Taylor Swift’s new boyfriend, the next movie coming out, or who is TikTok famous this week. Today, I am studying to be a pediatric nurse. Because I am in the medical world, my daily news consists of real-life, world-affecting events. In my daily scroll, I don’t see much of TikTok or the fashion trends on social media. Instead, I see medical news. One morning, I saw an article about a shortage of blood due to recent climate disasters. Fox 8 News reported that “Hurricane Idalia caused over 700 units of blood and platelets to go uncollected, according to the Red Cross.” That’s huge! That’s hundreds of treatments that had to be put on hold. Hundreds of people were unable to get the blood they needed. I realized I could have been one of those victims. If this had happened when I was sick, I may not be here today.
I turned to my best friend, Brittany, to see if she had any insights about this. She is a nurse practitioner, so she has dealt with the blood shortage firsthand in hospitals. She talked about all the patients she has had to cancel appointments for – all the patients who are weeks behind on their treatments because they just aren’t receiving enough blood. Although these circumstances are out of her control, she says she feels like she can’t give 100% at her job. She can’t treat people who need to be treated. Brittany can donate all the blood she can, but everyone else needs to, as well. Back to my daily scroll: now all my apps are showing blood shortage reports. Even Facebook. Weird, right? Maybe I should start researching fashion trends.
I now know the American Red Cross is currently in a national blood shortage. Their website has an alert stating that their blood supply has fallen by about “25% since early August,” and right now, “blood product distributions to hospitals are outpacing the number of blood donations coming in.” The shortage has been caused by a number of overlapping circumstances. Busy travel seasons, back to school, and recent hurricanes and other climate disasters are a few. Understanding all these contributing factors, I feel like something can be done to get America out of the blood shortage crisis.
Hopefully, more will start donating. Hopefully, people will stop and think about the invisible life force flowing through their veins and how there are people out there who need it, too. Blood is essential, necessary, important, and undeniably one of the most precious gifts we can give one another. None of us can survive without it. I understand everyone is busy; everyone has a life to worry about. Even someone like my mother, who has the perfect blood type, struggles to find time to donate. I wish I were able to help, and I hope the people who are able can realize what good they are doing by finding time. Let’s not only give the gift of life with a pint of blood. Let’s also give hope, healing, and a chance for a better life for someone in need.
References
American Red Cross. (2023). Blood shortage continues, please give blood now. https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/press-release/2023/red-cross-announces-national-blood-shortage.html
Tucker, R. (2023). Red Cross declares national blood shortage ‘in wake of back-to-back climate disasters’. Fox 8 News. https://fox8.com/news/red-cross-declares-national-blood-shortage-in-wake-of-back-to-back-climate-disasters/
Emily Foutz is a childhood cancer survivor pursuing a nursing degree. Her life revolves around her family, being her son’s biggest fan at all his sporting events, and schoolwork. In her rare moments of leisure, she likes to go for long walks on the beach (if she can find one) but usually settles for short naps on the couch.
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