One in three people will need a blood transfusion.
Our blood drive is a chance for YOU to save someone's life.
If you would like to donate and want to sign up for a time, follow this link:
http://www.mbc.org/Donate-Blood/Search-Blood-Drives
Click on Sponsor Code and type in 4233.
We are also accepting walk-ins!
Memorial Blood Center will have their blood mobile out to collect these life-saving donations:
16972 Brandtjen Farm Dr., Lakeville, MN 55044
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I am very excited to be able to be able to give back to Memorial Blood Center in Ellie's name and here is why...
Ellie’s Transfusion Story:
Our sweet and silly little girl suddenly became gravely
ill on October 24, 2010. Within 25 hours, a seemingly benign fever turned into
an extremely rare and deadly illness. When Ellie arrived at the hospital, the
staff was stumped. No matter what they did, her illness progressed. For some
reason, Ellie was becoming septic and her body was not responding to any
treatment. Her body started showing signs of a complication called DIC.
Essentially, her body depleted itself of all its clotting ability. It was at
this point that Ellie started receiving blood products. As Ellie’s condition further deteriorated, it
became obvious to the doctors that Ellie would not survive. As a last ditch
effort, the decision was made to put her on ECMO (the heart-lung bypass
machine).
The ECMO machine takes the blood out of the body,
oxygenates it, and sends it back into the body. The machine requires several
units of blood to operate. This combined with Ellie’s sepsis and complication,
DIC, meant she used a lot of blood products. We are not entirely sure how many
units of blood products Ellie actually received due to some inaccuracies in her
chart. But I can remember a doctor at St. Paul Children’s calling Memorial
Blood Bank to say that Ellie had used up all the supply there and he wanted to
make sure Minneapolis Children’s would be prepared for her when we arrived for
ECMO.
I would guess that between the two hospitals, what the
ECMO required and what Ellie’s sick body needed, she used at least ten units of
red blood cells, platelets, fresh frozen plasma and cryo. The nurses were
constantly bringing blood products into the room.
It wasn’t until after Ellie’s autopsy that we learned her
spleen did not work and she never stood a chance against the “high-velocity”
germ that took her life. In the end, no amount of blood was going to save
Ellie’s life. Her fate was determined before anyone even knew she was sick. But
each and every unit of blood product brought into that room gave her a chance.
It gave us hope. We can look back and know that every effort was made to save
Ellie. Without the blood, she would not have survived more than a few hours.
The transfusions allowed our family and friends to get to the hospital to say
goodbye and to be with us when we set our little girl free.
We are incredibly thankful to those who took the time to
donate their blood, never knowing that it would give our little girl a fighting
chance, and her family peace of mind knowing that everything possible was done
to save Ellie’s life. And for us, that’s an incredible gift.
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Hope to see you next Saturday!!
1 comments:
The things you do to honor Ellie are so inspiring. I love reading about each one.
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