African American Blood Donations Needed

The following press release was issued to wspa.com on Thursday:

The Blood Connection currently has an urgent request for blood donations from the African American community. There are several patients in the Greenville area requiring blood transfusions to treat sickle cell disease. The need is complicated because these patients require special typed blood that matches their rarer blood type.

“The Blood Connection is fortunate enough to have a very giving community and has not needed to appeal for blood donations,” said Greg Hart, President and CEO of The Blood Connection. “But right now we are asking for specific minority blood donations because the best matches for these sickle cell patients will come from African American donors.”

Many remember the story of Precious Gamble. She was born with sickle cell disease and had a rare blood type. Because of the multiple transfusions she received she began to develop a number of antibodies that required the donor’s blood to be an exact match. It was not as simple as just matching the blood type, and there were very few donors who matched. Since Precious was African-American, African-American donors were more likely to match. In the end, a select group of donors was able to extend her life with special blood transfusions.
Sickle cell anemia is an inherited form of anemia -- a condition in which there aren't
enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. This disease affects 1 in every 500 African-Americans. People with sickle cell anemia have irregular shaped red blood cells, which are sickle or crescent-shaped and have difficulty passing through small blood vessels. They can block blood vessels, resulting in less blood reaching parts of the body. Body tissue that does not receive a normal amount of blood flow eventually becomes damaged. In short, sickle cell anemia is painful for most people and can shorten the average life span for many.

While the need for all types of blood donations is ongoing, the need for minority donations is the greatest. Of the 5 percent of the general population who donate blood, only 1 out of 10 are African American or Hispanic. Every day of the year, thousands of African Americans and Hispanics face an alarming fact. There can be a limited amount of blood available for minorities when they need it. While they experience the same life-threatening emergencies that require blood transfusions as other people in the United States, there are a large number of minorities with rare blood diseases unique to their race, such as sickle cell anemia. As with every individual, the most compatible blood transfusion is likely to come from someone of the same ethnic, racial and genetic background as the patient. Combined with the fact that African American and Hispanic populations are growing – thirty percent of the population in South Carolina is now comprised of African-Americans while Hispanics have tripled in recent years – there is an urgent need for minority blood donations.

Blood donations can be made at any of The Blood Connection’s centers: 515 Grove Road, Greenville; 1224 Spring St., Greenwood; 1954 East Main St., Easley; and 1308 Sandifer Blvd., Seneca. For information about blood drives in the area, please visit: thebloodconnection.org.

Founded in 1979, The Blood Connection is the largest non-profit community blood center in upstate South Carolina. It provides 100% of the volunteer blood supply to all hospitals in Greenville, Greenwood, Pickens, Oconee, Laurens, Newberry Counties, and Stephens County in GA. The Blood Connection has centers in four upstate counties and has an average of five blood drives every day collecting over 80,000 blood units each year. It serves as the connection between volunteer blood donors, hospitals and patients needing life-saving transfusions. The Blood Connection is licensed and regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.