“I Know It’s a Primary Reason Why My Daughter is Alive"
by Jana Novak, American Red Cross Volunteer
Originally Published July 13, 2020. Updated and Republished on January 20, 2022
Fourteen years ago, holding two beautiful bouncing babies, Kimberly Arnold had no idea what a long journey lay ahead of her and her family. She just knew she had twins and was thrilled.
While her son Aiden was born typical, her daughter Addison was born with challenges, but ones the young family took on with brave faces. As Addison, who has Down Syndrome, was born with congenital heart defects that eventually evolved into severe pulmonary hypertension. She had multiple surgeries before she was a year old and spent the first four years of her life on oxygen.
None of this impacted Addie’s cheery demeanor and fighting spirit though. Not even when she was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia in June 2012 at 4.5 years old. That’s a long, tough battle to fight, which lasted for nearly two and a half years for Addison. Even more frightening, shortly after her diagnosis, she also was diagnosed with Moyamoya, a blood vessel abnormality in the brain, which predisposes one to stroke.
“It is one of the worst experiences to hear your child has cancer,” says Kimberly. “It was so hard on her, especially as she was such a young child and had already gone through so much with her pre-existing conditions. What was so critical was to keep her strong.”
What made all the difference from quite literally day one was the blood, platelet and immunoglobulin donations that Addie received on a constant basis – something that tied the Arnold family intimately to the American Red Cross and vice versa. As her treating oncologist, Dr. Tom Smith of Children’s Hospital Colorado explains, “The blood, platelet and immunoglobulin infusions were literally lifesaving for Addie. Her family and all of us caregivers thank the volunteer donors from the bottom of our hearts. Blood donors rock.”
As the Arnolds became a small part of the fact that there is a lot of blood needed in our country. Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. Of this, the Red Cross provides nearly 40 percent of the nation’s blood supply to hospitals, making it the largest single supplier of blood and blood products in the nation. For this reason, the Red Cross has a nationwide network of blood banks and donors, through which they can supply blood throughout the entire country ¾ and be the first to respond in major disasters or by special request, such as if a patient has a rare blood type.
While the American Red Cross of Colorado does not collect blood, the community is encouraged to support self-collecting hospitals by donating blood today. The Red Cross provides blood to 11 hospitals in Colorado, including the one that treated Addison, Children’s Hospital Colorado.
Addie’s treatment included many things, but the one constant was the need for the transfusions. On the very first day of her diagnosis, she immediately needed a red blood cell transfusion because she was so anemic, and just a few days later, she required a platelet transfusion to replenish her platelets and prevent bleeding. These were not the only ones she needed throughout her fight.
Indeed, the aggressive and chronic chemotherapy caused a decrease in her immunoglobulin levels, which are the antibodies needed to fight infection. Obviously, this increased her risk of serious infection, which would make it difficult to continue the chemotherapy, and any time you hold the chemo, you risk the leukemia coming back.
For this reason, in July 2012, Addie was started on a monthly infusion of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) for approximately a year. This treatment helped to replace her low immunoglobulin levels, preventing the need to hold the chemotherapy, and helping her to get rid of the infections. This was a successful intervention, but still a difficult one.
“The transfusions could last all day long, and this could be quite traumatic for a young child. We could always see a difference right away though — and most important, they allowed her to continue the treatment to beat her cancer,” notes Kimberly. “Unfortunately though, there was sometimes issues getting enough of the plasma. And I remember having to do pleas to family and friends via email and Facebook, asking them to donate because supplies had run low.”
The Arnold family not only donated themselves, but they even supported several blood and plasma drives at Children’s Hospital Colorado in concert with the Red Cross to try to increase supplies of the much-needed resource. It has become a cause very dear to their hearts.
Addie and her twin brother are now 14 years old and doing great, says their mom. All of them are grateful to those who stepped up previously, and still continue to step up, to donate blood and more.
As Kimberly says, “The bottom line is that I know these biomedical donations are a primary reason why my daughter is alive. It’s why it’s so important for people to donate — you can and will save a life. In fact, I donated recently, and got one of the notes back where they tell you that your donation has been used — and I can’t express what a great feeling it is to know your efforts saved a life. So go, donate!”