ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190028
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Beth Macy
SOURCE: BETH MACY STAFF WRITER
Melinda Hughes was 18 the first time she gave blood. She passed out cold.
A blood technician told her, ``You probably shouldn't give blood any more.'' So, for years, she didn't.
Hughes was almost 30 when she learned that her niece, Roanoke County's Tabatha Bailey, had a form of cancer called neuroblastoma.
Tabatha, now 7, has been through many painful procedures, from radiation therapy to tumor-removal surgery and a bone-marrow transplant.
She's been a trouper through it all, setting transplant-recovery records and eating both Taco Bell and Burger King for lunch - while undergoing chemotherapy.
Still, her aunt says, ``Her two biggest fears are [medical] tape and needles.''
For the past 18 months, Tabatha has required more than 200 units of blood products. She has a rare blood type, called A-2B negative, though she can also take O negative or B negative blood.
But on more than one occasion, the blood bank has run out of negative blood. As a result, Tabatha had to be given positive-type blood, plus a shot of Rhogam.
``It might not sound like a big deal to you or me, but she is still terrified of needles,'' Melinda says. ``That extra shot was traumatic.''
Last summer, while Tabatha was in remission, Melinda pledged to try donating blood again. An intensive-care and emergency-room nurse, she knew the hospitals' need for blood was critical.
``People don't understand how important it is to give blood,'' the 31-year-old says. ``Most people don't do it till someone in their family needs it.''
Melinda gives blood regularly now - not just for the supply at large, but also for Tabatha.
In August, after three months of being cancer-free, Tabatha's neuroblastoma appeared again in her bone marrow. She has since undergone three rounds of chemotherapy. After each, she has required transfusions of both platelets and hemoglobin.
``She has grown up so much in the past year and a half,'' her aunt says. ``She will ask her mom, `Will chemotherapy cure me or just prolong my life?' That's a quote from Tabatha.''
Debbie Bailey's response to her daughter: ``The chemo killed the cancer before, so we're praying it will do it again.
``We're praying for a miracle.''
There are 25 kids in the Roanoke Valley with cancer, and they all need blood. There are untold numbers of adults who need it, too: car-accident victims, dialysis patients, hemophiliacs, AIDS patients, cancer patients.
A local teen-ager wrecked his motorcycle recently and required four operations in three days - and 70 units of blood.
A few weeks ago, a Raleigh, W.Va., woman gave birth to a baby, lost her ability to clot and nearly bled to death before Roanoke's LifeGuard 10 arrived with five large boxes of blood products.
And one day last month, the valley's 400-pint supply of O-positive blood was drained to just 11 pints because of two cardiac operations and one car accident.
Every day, the Roanoke Valley chapter of the American Red Cross needs to collect 260 pints of blood to supply the 44 area hospitals and five dialysis centers in Southwest Virginia and Southeast West Virginia that rely on it.
But people get busy during the holidays. They go on vacation, take time off work, spend their time out shopping or with their families. The blood supply suffers.
During the Gulf War and after the Oklahoma City bombing, Roanokers turned out in droves to donate blood. ``But people don't realize that every day there's a small war going on, and it's right here,'' says Red Cross donor specialist Bob Ostrom.
``It's all the Tabathas and all the car-accident victims and gunshot wounds and bleeding ulcers. . . . ''
You and I have a 95 percent chance of requiring donated blood by the time we're 72. Nonetheless, just 5 percent of the population regularly donates.
``A lot of people think, `I'll give if my family members need it.' But if they're at the hospital and they need blood right now, it's too late for you to donate,'' Ostrom says. It takes a minimum of 48 hours to process a pint of blood.
And so here's Ostrom's pitch: Come by the Roanoke Civic Center's Exhibit Hall today between noon and 6:30 p.m. and participate in the Red Cross Donorama. Ostrom hopes to get 425 pints today to make up for the holiday shortage.
Plan on about an hour of waiting and documenting your medical history, followed by one needle prick and 7 to 10 minutes of actual blood-giving. (Call 800-448-3543 if you have questions.)
It'll make you feel better about the holidays - and yourself.
And it might even help with Tabatha's miracle.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Tabitha Bailey is featured on a Red Cross poster in aby CNBplea for blood donations.