Patti Childress is proud to share her health history with students and adults at the American Red Cross. She says that every day, volunteer blood and platelet donors are needed across the country to help save lives.
Trigger Warning: Graphic Surgery Descriptions
If it’s true that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, then Patti Childress must be Superwoman. The dynamic, assertive strawberry-blonde has had 40 surgeries over the past 29 years; yet, she still maintains an incredibly demanding schedule as a Blood Services account manager with the American Red Cross, where she’s responsible for getting blood drives booked and done.
“Yes,” she said, “it would be a lot for anyone to do,” especially given the huge territory she is responsible for across the Northern California Coastal Region. But she is committed to encouraging, scheduling, planning, organizing, overseeing and finalizing blood drives as a way to thank all the people who were willing to donate the blood and platelets she needed to save her life.
It all started when Patti was 19 and was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder called Immune thrombocytopenia (or Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura, ITP). ITP is an autoimmune disorder that destroys healthy platelets and abnormally decreases the number of platelets a person should have, which are needed for blood to clot if a person has a cut or bad bruise. Patti was told that she would need a blood transfusion if she ever needed surgery.
Then, when she was 23, Patti was diagnosed with kidney disease and was told she would likely need a kidney transplant. Two years later, she got a kidney transplant from her father. However, she eventually needed two more kidney transplants, the most recent just three years ago. At one point she had to have her spleen removed. Then, there was the open-heart surgery she required due to a tumor. This was followed by having her chest opened twice more so that her chest cavity could be scraped out due to blood drainage.
Most recently she had to have a massive hernia repair that was a consequence of the spleen removal and her recent kidney transplant. Her surgeon told her the hernia repair was the most complicated one he had ever done.
After all that, most people would spend their days lounging on the couch. Not Patti.
While the 52-year-old works on getting her strength back, she has been on the staff of the Red Cross for 17 years. Patti visits high schools, workplaces and various organizations to promote, plan and produce an average of 32 blood drives a month all over her vast territory – from Greenfield to San Jose. “It’s an important job, and I need to stay on top of things. It takes a very special person,” said Patti, which, clearly, she is.
What motivates her is the 60 units of platelets she needed when she was treated for ITP, and the 10 units of whole blood she needed when she had open-heart surgery. “I’m paying it forward,” she said. “It’s my way of thanking the people who donated blood for me.”
Don’t wait to donate
People should not have to worry about whether there’s enough blood for them when they need surgery, said Patti. “It’s important to know that there are people out there working to make sure the blood supply is enough.”
One in four people will require blood at some point in their lifetime, she says. And every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood. Volunteer blood and platelet donors across the country are needed every day to help save lives.
“I share my story because it creates an understanding of the need for blood so that there will always be blood wherever and whenever it’s needed,” Patti said. “Roughly only 5% of people in the U.S. donate blood. We need more blood donors out there.”
Justin Mueller, Red Cross Donor Services regional executive, has worked with Patti for nearly 20 years. He said, “For almost two decades, Patti has been sharing her personal story as a testimonial which inspires others to donate blood. She is guided by purpose, and her journey is a driving force behind her ability to uplift communities and fulfill our life-saving mission with integrity and heart.”
Patti goes into the community centers, up the stairs into high schools or in the car to businesses, aiming to persuade at least 50 people per site to sign up to donate.
“It’s exciting to see a successful blood drive. It gives me a wonderful feeling to know that people took time out of their lives to be part of the big picture. And to know that there are good people in the world. It’s just the best feeling,” she exclaimed.
Patti Childress leads a tour of the San Jose Red Cross Blood Donation Center. She works passionately to promote, plan and produce as many blood drives as possible in her region, after a series of health issues required her to receive multiple blood transfusions.
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