Blood Donations Needed!!

As you probably know, I am part of Team in Training to help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Each team has honored teammates who are all cancer patients or survivors.  

The Long Beach team has several honored teammates, including Alyssa, a six-year-old patient who has battled cancer since 2007.  In August 2008, she suffered from a severe case of encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) which caused her to lose her ability to see and causes her to experience seizures.

Alyssa is scheduled for brain surgery on November 16 to treat the seizures and is in urgent need of blood donations, specifically O+.  If you are O+, a donation at UCLA's Blood and Platelet Center would be a direct donation for Alyssa (please ask to have your donation benefit Alyssa Howes).  Even if you aren't O+, you can make a donation and the medical staff will decide if you are compatible for Alyssa or other patients.

On behalf of Alyssa and her family, THANK YOU for your help!   If you can't make it to UCLA, please consider donating blood at your local hospital or Red Cross.  Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood and of the 60 percent of the U.S. population that is eligible to donate, only 5 percent do.  There is a huge shortage and every donation helps save lives.