Blood Drive

Who’s in Karachi & willing to donate blood this sunday for Thalassemia Patients registered at Fatimid Foundation?

There has been severe shortage at Fatimid, please donate blood & help save 3 lives.

If you can’t donate, have donated few days ago, then you can bring friends, relatives, workers anyone you want..

You can message me or Salman for more details or can call at: 0332-3080461

Event page at Facebook: Blood Drive

Make commitment ONLY if you are coming otherwise just don’t tick at ‘attending’ – I MEAN IT

Blood drive on tap to help girl Peyton Green, 3, needs a blood transfusion every three weeks to survive

Courtesy by: phillyburbs.com

FLORENCE – Peyton Green may seem a little shy at first, but she’s as courageous and strong-willed as the Disney princesses she adores.

The 3-year-old has Diamond Blackfan anemia, a rare blood disorder that prevents her bone marrow from making red blood cells, which carry oxygen through the body.

Peyton has to receive a blood transfusion every three weeks to survive.

“She’s very brave,” said Ashley Green, Peyton’s mother. “She’s our hero.”

On Wednesday, Green, husband Thomas and the American Red Cross will hold a blood drive at the Florence Fire Department on Firehouse Lane from 1:30 to 7:30 p.m. to help treat the disorder.

“This is our second blood drive,” Green said. “We had one in May and there was a really good turnout. We collected 34 units of blood, so I decided to try and do it every six months.”

According to the Diamond Blackfan Anemia Foundation, patients with the disease can live long and healthy lives with appropriate medical treatment.

Blood transfusions are one of two common forms of treatment. The other, a corticosteroid medication, forces the bone marrow to make red blood cells, but Green said it didn’t work for Peyton.

Patients may elect to undergo a bone marrow transplant, but the foundation considers it a risky and dangerous procedure and Green said it’s the absolute last option for her daughter.

Green said Peyton was diagnosed with the disorder when she was 8 weeks old.

“She stayed in the hospital for seven days and had five blood transfusions,” she said. “They confirmed her diagnosis with a bone marrow biopsy.”

The biopsy revealed unusually low hemoglobin levels.

“They found her hemoglobin to be 2 (grams per deciliters),” Green said. “A normal level would have been 10 to 13.”

Advertisement
Green said Peyton has gone as long as four weeks without a transfusion but can’t risk waiting longer than that.

“If she does (wait four weeks), her hemoglobin will go even lower. She becomes irritable and she won’t eat and her bones hurt,” Green said.

But that wasn’t the case during an interview at the family’s home Friday. Peyton chased her new puppy around the living room and jumped into her mother’s arms. Her most recent transfusion was Thursday.

Peyton gets her transfusions at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. Because they cause an elevation in her iron levels, Peyton must also take medication to remove excess iron from her body.

About a quarter of the people with Diamond Blackfan anemia have a known genetic cause, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but Green said there are no other known cases of the disease in her family.

“I couldn’t understand why it happened to my child, especially after having a perfectly healthy son,” Green said. “It took me a long time to understand. I’m getting more comfortable with making it public. It’s important to get the word out that this exists and it’s horrible. It’s hard for someone to live with it.”

Green said she decided to document Peyton’s progress through an online journal at www.caringbridge.org/visit/peytongreen28.

“I’m totally willing to get the word out,” she said.

Green said 21 people have already committed to Wednesday’s blood drive and she’s hoping for more.

“(Blood drives) are so important for any disease that requires a blood transfusion, like sickle cell or thalassemia,” she said.

For more information about the disease and the foundation, visit dbafoundation.org.

Convent students hold blood drive Friday

Courtesy by: acorn-online.com

An American Red Cross blood drive will be held on Friday May 8 from 1  to 5:45 in the gymnasium at Convent of the Sacred Heart School, 1177 King St.

The blood drive is organized by Jennie Chieco and Celina Frelinghuysen, students at Convent of the Sacred Heart, in association with the American Red Cross Greenwich Chapter and Connecticut Blood Services Region.

Thirteen-year old Jennie Chieco is an eighth grader whose college-age sister Michelle has thalassemia, a rare blood disease that produces defective blood cells. Ms. Chieco requires blood transfusions every two weeks. Jennie chose a project close to her heart when she decided to organize a blood drive for “Making History,” an eighth grade class project. Jennie, who has witnessed her sister’s transfusions says, “I’ve seen first-hand the need for blood. The need is universal and everyone should help.”

Sixteen year old Celina Frelinghuysen, a 10th grader at Convent of the Sacred Heart, is teaming up with Jennie so together they can host the first blood drive at the school. Celina has primary immunodeficiency, a genetic disease that requires regular infusions of donor antibodies or immunoglobulin, one of the many proteins found in human blood. Celina says she can attend school and live the normal life of a teen due to the availability of blood made possible by volunteer blood donors.

“I am indescribably thankful that I am a part of the first blood drive at Sacred Heart,” Celina says. “Hopefully our drive will have a great outcome and help as many people in need as possible.”

The goal set for the blood drive is 70 units of blood to be collected. So far, about 40 people have signed up and more are expected. Students who do not meet the current minimum age requirement of 17 and the weight requirement of at least 110 pounds to donate are helping out by signing up to volunteer at the blood drive.

The “Convent Cookers,” a high school club, is donating baked goods. The blood drive is open to the public. Other blood drives in Greenwich that week are on Monday May 4 at Temple Shalom, 300 E. Putnam Ave. from 1:30 p.m. to 6:15 and on Friday May 8 at St. Mary Church, 178 Greenwich Ave., from 12:30 to 6. To make an appointment, call 800-GIVE-LIFE or visit Bloodct.org.

Noor Islamic Bank to organize second blood donation drive

Courtesy by: ameinfo.com

Noor Islamic Bank PJSC today announced it has expanded the scope of its second Blood Donation Drive to include donors from the public as part of a country-wide programme to raise awareness on Thalassemia.

Staff and visitors will donate blood from 9.00am to 2:30pm at the Bank’s headquarters in Emaar Square, Building-1 on 29 April.

The campaign, to be held with the support of Dubai Department of Health and Medical Services, is part of the initiative to support the UAE’s programme of eradicating the disease in the country by 2012.

Hussain Al Qemzi, Group CEO, Noor Islamic Bank, said:

‘Thalassemia is a serious blood disorder that affects one in 16 Emiratis each year. It is a condition that is not confined to the sufferer alone, but affects the entire family as well. At Noor Islamic Bank, we are committed to playing our role in not only raising awareness about this genetic condition, but also lending our support by donating blood to organizations that help patients and their families.’

The blood donation drive is part of the Bank’s corporate social responsibility programme that supports community needs including special needs, breast cancer and charity initiatives.

The Blood Donation Centre in Al Wasl Hospital will receive the blood. The Centre performs various humanitarian duties such as providing blood for several Thalassemia children who are in constant need of transfusion every three to four weeks. The donations will also be used by cardiology patients who have undergone open heart surgeries, those suffering from leukemia and patients with other blood disorders.

Thalassemia is a genetic blood condition that is inherited by children from their parents. The condition limits the patient’s ability to produce enough haemoglobin in the blood. Children born with Thalassemia usually develop symptoms of severe anaemia within their first year.