Catch-19

Rowen, my daughter was born on Aug. 3rd, 1998. My wife went into labor and we eventually went to the hospital where things progressed normally. Until they didn’t. At some point, the fetal monitor indicated that my daughter was in fetal distress. Her heart was stopping during the contractions.

I’m not sure what I felt when our doctor said that. I was scared, but mostly confused. Clearly that was a bad thing, but how bad? I really didn’t know. And a big part of me wanted to think “Oh that probably happens all the time, I’m sure it’s a routine fix.” It wasn’t.

Once they found out that her heart was stopping, a whirlwind of activity occurred, none of which I was involved in. A well oiled team of doctors and nurses prepared her and rushed her out of the room, with me following behind. Until I got the operating room doors where I was left outside. That was the point when I really started panicking. I alternated between believing the worst, that both my wife and daughter were going to die, to desperately trying to believe everything was going to be alright.

It was the single scariest moment of my life. Incoming mortar fire in Iraq does not compare. Having a pistol pulled on me does not compare. Jail in Juarez Mexico does not compare. I was helpless and afraid.

They performed an emergency c-section. Rowen’s heart was beating but her platelet count was critically low. They immediately infused her with platelets. Over time she had to receive 5 or 6 more infusions.

She’s fine now. She just bruises easy, so I get to have a very special talk with all her teachers and nurse about how she might sometimes look like “Daddy got angry” but no no, it’s just a slightly low platelet count. She had something called ITP, Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (though technically, she never had the Purpura part). She’s free of it now and her platelet count is in the normal range, the bottom of that rangte, but still normal.

Her life was saved because those platelets were available. They were available because someone spent the time to donate them. Someone, several someones actually, saved my daughters life. And who knows how many more lives.

So, if you read this, I’m asking you to make an appointment at the Red Cross for apheresis donation. Apheresis is the process by which platelets are collected. And it’s a pain in the butt. You have to hang out at the donation center for about 2 hours. The blood is removed, the platelets and plasma are removed, then the blood is returned to you. Most places have TVs set up playing movies. I’m asking you to do this at least once, because someone did this for us, and it made a difference.

I donated regularly in MA, but I’ve been lax since we moved. I just scheduled my first appointment here.

You can find some basic info about apheresis here: http://www.givelife2.org/donor/apheresis.asp . You will have to call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-4483-5433) to schedule an appointment.