“Within three weeks, I went from being a blood advocate … to donating blood myself, to being diagnosed with a blood disorder, to being a recipient of other people's donated blood products. So that was kind of a crazy three weeks for me.”
That's how Morgan Kaiser, a student at The Ohio State University, describes an experience that changed her relationship with blood donation.
Morgan began donating blood at 17, in memory of her late grandfather, a dedicated O-negative donor who gave consistently whenever he could. She admired his selflessness and the difference his donations could make for others.
At Ohio State, Morgan deepened her commitment to blood donation through Buckeye Blood Club, a student organization that helps facilitate campus blood drives and encourages others to donate. She organized a drive, recruited her friends and donated blood herself. She wore her donor T-shirt to school. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
But about two and a half weeks later, her dad told her she'd received a letter from Versiti. “I thought it was maybe a thank-you letter,” said Morgan. Instead, the letter explained that testing connected to her donation revealed a lower-than-normal platelet count of 90,000.
Morgan followed up with her doctor, expecting the result to return to normal – except it didn’t. “My platelet count was 15,000, and it was a critical alert immediately, and I was really scared because I didn’t have any other symptoms other than a blood test,” said Morgan.
Morgan was diagnosed with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), a disorder in which her immune system was attacking her platelets, the blood components that help stop bleeding. Aside from occasional bruising she'd dismissed as ordinary, Morgan had experienced virtually no symptoms. “I never would have known that I had ITP if it wasn't for donating blood,” she said.
And the consequences of not knowing could have been serious. “If I were to have hit my head, if I were to have gotten into some sort of really bad accident, there’s no saying how long it would have taken me to stop bleeding and what kind of repercussions that could have had,” she said.
The same day she was diagnosed, Morgan received intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), a treatment made from donated plasma. According to her hematologist, the treatment involved contributions from approximately 1,000 donors.
The young woman who had spent years encouraging people to give blood now depended on the generosity of donors herself. Over the following months, she underwent additional treatment and regular blood tests to monitor her platelet levels. Eventually, her counts stabilized and she was considered in remission.
“I’m really lucky. I'm okay today. I'm doing well.”
After experiencing the generosity of blood donors firsthand, Morgan now sees blood donation differently. “I think that this whole kind of whirlwind of changing from being a donor to someone that receives blood products, it's really given me kind of a spark and a real passion for blood donation,” she said. “You never know when you might need blood. You never know when your loved one might need blood. And it's sudden and it's scary.”
After two years, Morgan was finally able to donate blood again. “Being able to actually donate is a really good feeling, so I was really happy that I was able to do that again this year,” she said.
And she hasn't forgotten the donors who helped make her recovery possible. “Who's to say if I would be where I am today without those thousand donors that donated their blood?” said Morgan.
People need people, make a difference in someone’s life by donating blood.
We must rely on each other for the gift of blood, and patients in your community rely on the generosity of Versiti’s blood donors to help. Please consider scheduling an appointment to donate. If this is your first time, donating blood is quick, easy and relatively painless. And, it is a great way to give back and help patients in your community.
