Blood donors are needed to help children like four-year-old Brielle Robichaud fight cancer.
In January, Brielle was diagnosed with a tumour in the middle of her brain. Surgery was too dangerous due to the location of the tumour. She was too young for radiation. The only treatment option was chemotherapy.
Trish Robichaud said chemotherapy is killing her daughter’s tumour, but also killing her red blood cells, hemoglobin and platelets.
“Without blood transfusions to bring her counts back up, we couldn’t treat the tumour with chemo. Without blood donors, we can’t treat childhood cancer. It’s absolutely necessary,” said Trish at the local Canadian Blood Services blood donor clinic on Thursday.
Trish and her daughter were at the clinic to recognize Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and encourage new blood donors to step forward in September.
The Red Deer family was told Brielle would need 18 months of chemotherapy and many more blood transfusions along the way.
Trish said the cancer has responded better than expected to treatment.
“She’s had four different surgeries, chemotherapy, sometimes even weekly since January, and she’s doing great. The tumour has already shrunk by more than 60 per cent so we’re very happy.
“Look at you. You are amazing. You’re a little miracle,” said Trish who smiled at Brielle as she held her in her arms.
Jhoanna Del Rosario, Canadian Blood Services territory manager, said the average childhood cancer patient requires five units of blood per treatment. For leukemia, the most common cancer for children, eight units of blood a week are needed.
“That’s eight donors needed to save a patient’s life. That’s why we’re calling on the people of Red Deer to rally their friends and family to donate blood in honour of all the childhood cancer survivors and those who passed away,” Del Rosario said.
“We are looking to fill 775 appointments for the month of September in the Red Deer clinic in order for us to meet the demand at the hospital.”
Inventories for negative O, negative A, and negative B blood types are currently low.
Trish said she only donated blood once before Brielle’s diagnosis.
“I thought, you know, this is really inconvenient. It kind of hurts. I don’t want to do it.”
Now the mother knows the importance of donating blood.
“I just remember sitting in the chair at the clinic and watching somebody’s A positive blood in a bag and it was flowing down that tube into my daughter and I just think, ‘who took the time to just help revive my little girl?’” Trish said.
“Thank you, thank you so much. Keep donating. I know it’s inconvenient but little people like this really benefit from it. It means the world to us.”
People can book an appointment online at www.blood.ca to donate or call 1-888-236-6283.