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 “This is something people need to do to help save lives.”
Angela Hancock, an ordained Presbyterian minister, was under a lot of stress. With a recent move to Princeton, New Jersey, her husband deployed in Iraq, this full time mother of two children, and an ordained Presbyterian minister, was constantly on the move. However, for many months Angela knew something was very wrong with her health. She was very anemic and made many trips to her doctor with multiple infections including having mononucleosis twice, sinus and kidney infections, and being badly bruised.
“I had trouble eating, trouble walking short distances, trouble keeping my eyes open even in the middle of the day. I couldn’t pick up the children anymore. I knew something was terribly wrong,” recalls Angela Hancock.
These symptoms continued to advance leading up to October 2003, when she was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.
Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), also referred to as myeloblastic leukemia, acute myelocytic leukemia and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia, is developed from the body not producing enough healthy blood, and when there is a defect in the immature cells in the bone marrow. Healthy bone marrow produces blood- forming cells that develop into the three types of blood cells: red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Someone suffering from AML has bone marrow that produces too many blast cells, or immature white blood cells. Normally, blast cells turn into a type of white blood cell called granulocytes, but the leukemia blast cells do not. At the same time, the marrow cannot grow enough normal red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. The exact cause of AML is unknown, and it is not inherited or contagious.
AML has few treatment options, and at first, the doctors could not get multiple donor platelets. Angela’s doctors searched relentlessly to find an individual blood donor whose platelets Angela could accept. This became a difficult challenge, as Angela’s condition was worsening. “I began to bleed internally, in my stomach, under my skin, and behind my eyes.” The only lifeline Angela had were blood transfusions. She had no red blood cells to carry oxygen, not white cells to protect from infections, and no platelets to cease the internal bleeding.
There are two different types of transplants for AML patients, autologous transplants, in which the patient's own cells are collected and frozen, and following chemotherapy or radiation therapy, the cells are put back into the patient. Angela needed an allogeneic transplant, which involves cells from a donor. With an allogeneic transplant, the cells donated are infused into the patient within twentyfour hours of collection. The donor can be either related or unrelated to the patient, more commonly, related donors are siblings. For a patient considering this transplant, the first thing a doctor does is tissue type the patient's family. If no matching family member is found, the patient's doctor can search for a match.
Fortunately, from transfusions composed of 1,072 donations of blood and platelets from American Red Cross blood donors, Angela is alive and well today. She was hospitalized for six months for chemotherapy, and needed platelet transfusions every six hours for three weeks to keep from having a fatal brain hemorrhage. Whenever her blood counts would drop down again, she would need transfusions taking two to three weeks until she was in better health. During this time period, her family remained by her side and gave her the support she needed to come to a full recovery. The grandparents of her children took turns playing the role of caretaker for them, and to be in the hospital with her.
From her first time donating blood after college, Angela knows the importance of blood donation and the effect it has on others lives. Up until her diagnosis with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, Angela had no knowledge of platelet transfusions. “I thank blood donors because they took the time and gave part of themselves to help me and others like me. For me, my family, and those countless others who have benefited from your kindness, I say, thank you,” Angela said.
Platelets are cell fragments in the blood that enable blood to clot, and patients with leukemia and other illnesses need platelet donations to prevent from life-threatening bleeding. Platelet donations are done through the apheresis process. When blood is donated, it is separated into its components -- red cells, platelets, and plasma, which are all vital elements for patients and people in need. When a donation is made through the apheresis process, one specific component of the blood is given, most often platelets. It takes approximately five whole blood donations to yield as many platelets as a single apheresis donation, making platelet donations extremely important and vital. In one apheresis donation, enough platelets are given to help two hospital patients.
More than 125 hospitals in the Southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey region order an average of 2,000 blood products each day. The American Red Cross is the main blood supply source, and everyday patients need blood in order to support a treatment that could save their lives. To ensure that blood is always available for people in need, the American Red Cross stresses the importance of making regular blood donations a key factor in ones regular routine.
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