|
Aplastic Anemia News - Return to News Menu
She needs rare blood
BY JILLIAN OGAWA
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Sickle cell anemia patient Davina Daniels needs transfusions, but hospital is running out of blood.
Davina Daniels is in a race for her life - and time is running out.
The 32-year-old Springfield Gardens woman desperately needs a transfusion of a rare blood type to treat her life-threatening case of sickle cell anemia.
Daniels is suffering from a condition called aplastic anemia, which prevents her bone marrow from producing red blood cells, said Dr. Mark Hoffman, a hematologist at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park.
Even worse, Hoffman said, following years of transfusions, Daniels' blood has developed antibodies. She now needs an even more precise blood-type match - with U-negative, Rh-negative antigens - which can only come from someone of her race, African-American.
"It's like finding a needle in a haystack," a tired and weak Daniels said in a telephone interview from her hospital room. "That's how hard it is to find my blood type."
Daniels was diagnosed with sickle-cell anemia when she was 6 months old and has been in and out of hospitals ever since.
Now, her situation is further complicated because of an infection from parvovirus B19, which destroys the red blood cells the body produces. While healthy people who contract the virus may get a rash or a cold, it causes more drastic consequences to sickle cell anemia patients because they do not have strong immune systems, Hoffman explained.
Daniels, who is single, has an 8-year-old son, Merrik, who she hasn't seen for a few days because she fears her condition may scare him.
"I am so terrified of breaking his heart," Daniels said. "I'm doing the best I can. I'm fighting to the last breath because I don't want to give up."
Daniels was admitted to hospital two weeks ago and was treated with a process to help her immune system fight the virus. She still needs transfusions until the virus leaves her body, but the hospital is on the verge of exhausting its supply.
Without red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body, Daniels is more prone to illness and at risk of suffering a heart attack or heart failure.
"There is a sense of urgency, an unpredictability and potential death," Hoffman said.
Long Island Jewish is issuing an urgent call for African-American blood donors to come forward to help Daniels and others.
Linda Levi, spokeswoman for the New York Blood Center, said Daniels has type A-negative blood, but can receive O-negative blood if the antigens match.
"We want to encourage as many African-Americans as possible to come forward and donate," Levi said.
Blood donations can be made through New York blood centers throughout the city, New Jersey and Long Island. For information, call (800) 933-BLOOD, or visit www.nybloodcenter.org.
Rare blood can aid her
Drive to save dying ma
A critically ill Springfield Gardens woman's cry for a rare blood type has touched the hearts of hundreds of New Yorkers.
Several members of the City Council will host community blood drives and contact African-American congregations on behalf of Davina Daniels, 32, a single mom who is suffering from acute sickle cell anemia.
The push is spearheaded by Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-WFP-I-St. Albans), who represents Springfield Gardens.
"Miss Daniels needs to get blood that, because of her rare blood type, it has to come from an African-American donor," Comrie said, noting that "the African-American community right now has the lowest percentage of blood donors to the blood bank."
In addition, Local 1199 SEIU, the largest union representing hospital workers in the city, has urged its members to donate blood.
The union has 200,000 members in the five boroughs and Long Island, and 95,000 of them are black, said union spokesman Christopher Fleming.
"This is a call to help Davina and a call to help others, and with our members' compassion and a lot of them being black ... we thought this was the best way to help," said Fleming.
Doctors at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park say Davina needs blood type A-negative, or other blood types with matching antigens - U-negative or rh-negative, which can only come from someone of her own race. She suffers from the condition aplastic anemia, which means her bone marrow does not produce red blood cells, the doctors said.
Hundreds of calls have been pouring into the New York Blood Center since Daniels' condition became public last week.
Center officials said a blood type matching Daniels' has not yet been found, but blood testing takes a 48-hour turnaround, and they expect to screen more people this week.
"This type [of blood] she needs is so very rare, so we need to screen thousands of donations," said Blood Center spokeswoman Linda Levi.
"[My family and I] are very thankful for all the people caring and wanting to help," a weary-sounding Daniels said in a brief telephone interview last week. "I'm very grateful for everyone who ... got people together and [got] tested and [went] to the blood bank. It's more than we can ever hope for."
|
