Dear Blood Donors

Dear Blood Donors,

Thank you with all my heart for providing life-saving blood products to my son, six times during his 12 years of life.

I was reminded of how amazing your gift of life is, as I watched my son receive two blood transfusions this week. His hemoglobin had dropped dangerously low due to extensive nose bleeds. His hemoglobin was so low that his damaged heart was compromised and he experienced chest pain due to his body’s lack of blood volume and oxygen.  Your donation replenished his red blood cells and allowed his heart to function again without strain. 

But this is not the first time you have been a hero to our family. Isaiah was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease (KD) when he was three years old. The treatment for this disease is IVIG (intravenous immunoglobulin) which is a blood product derived from the plasma of over 1000 donors.   Isaiah received this treatment twice during his first hospitalization for KD and once more during his second occurrence a year later. Your donation helps to save Kawasaki disease patients from lifelong heart damage.  

Isaiah developed coronary aneurysms even after receiving his IVIG and required a double coronary artery bypass surgery when he was four years old. During his 10-hour-long open heart surgery, he required multiple units of blood.  Your donation allowed the surgeons to continue working on his heart and complete Isaiah's critical artery bypass.

Thank you, donors, for giving selflessly of yourselves and helping strangers who will never be able to thank you personally, but will be eternally grateful for your kindness.  You are all heroes to me!

With endless appreciation,

A Grateful Mom

P.S. To those that have never donated blood -- please consider donating if you are able.  Donors are needed now more than ever and Canadian Blood Services donation centres are open with safety precautions in place. Your donation will help to save and improve lives.  If you are going to donate, please use the Kawasaki Disease Canada partner ID: KAWA808094 and become part of our donation team.

[Note to readers: This was a post was written a year ago when Isaiah was hospitalized due to his low hemoglobin and chest pains.  It was originally posted to my Facebook page, but I have only gotten around to posting it to my blog now.]