A Blood Recipient's Story: Avery

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Jun 1, 2020 | Katy Maeder | @katymaeder

Little Avery’s mother, Bethany, began to worry when the three year old seemed constantly exhausted. Her “mother’s intuition” moved her to pay a visit to their local emergency room to see what was wrong. The staff ended up drawing Avery’s blood twice, because her hemoglobin levels were so low that they thought someone had made a mistake in the reading. They immediately sent Avery on to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

On September 11, 2017, Avery was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. “I will never forget that day. Hearing a diagnosis such as this is every parent’s worst nightmare,” Bethany shares. Immediately Avery’s medical team began treating her with blood transfusions, and Bethany was amazed at just how quickly her daughter’s energy level would rebound and her coloring would improve after each unit of product she received.

“The thought of what an amazing and selfless thing giving blood is never really crossed my mind. These people who donated blood for my daughter had nothing to gain except knowing they had done something to help someone,” Bethany recalls.

Currently, Avery is in remission. Hopefully, her two-and-a-half-year treatment plan will be completed at the end of this year. “Before she was diagnosed, she loved to ride her bike with her friends, but she could only go about a block and then would cry, because her friends were so far ahead of her. I remember the first time she got back on her bike after the blood-transfusion treatments. She had all the energy in the world. It was really amazing to see that!”

How to Donate
For more information about donating blood in Rochester, Minnesota, call (507) 284-4475 or email donateblood@mayo.edu. Or visit our webpage http://www.mayoclinic.org/donateblood.

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