Donating Convalescent Plasma is Saving Lives in Tampa Bay

Sarina Fazan interviews citizens and healthcare workers who are encouraging those to become convalescent plasma donors.

Michael Seymour has made donating convalescent plasma a routine. He has already donated three times. Every time he is eligible, you will find him onboard OneBlood’s Big Red Bus doing his part to help combat COVID-19.

For Seymour and others like him, each donation is deeply personal.

“My wife passed away from the virus, and it’s the least I can do to help others,” said Seymour

Heather Allred who also has personal connections with COVID-19 shares the same tragic reality.

“Having had it myself, I also had family members who had it, my grandpa had it and passed away, as well as a good friend had it and passed away too,” said Allred.

She did not receive convalescent plasma herself but has seen patients who have. Allred is a patient advocate, working alongside nurses every day on a COVID-19 floor at a Florida hospital.

“I’ve to see that it works and that people can benefit from it, and it can potentially save a life, especially working in healthcare, that is very humbling to me,” said Allred.

It is also why Lester James turns out to donate plasma. He is a healthcare worker just like Allred and has seen firsthand how patients improve after receiving convalescent plasma.

“Anyone that has had coronavirus or COVID-19, should donate the plasma,” said James.

With the number of coronavirus cases rising, so is the urgent need for convalescent plasma, it is a front-line therapy.

Initially, doctors were giving it to critically ill patients, but now it’s given to people days within their diagnosis.

“The more people that we can have that can donate, we’re having people now that are surviving COVID, so we have more potential donors out there, and so the more plasma we’re able to get, then the more patients were able to help,” said Dr. Andrew Myers, the Director of Inpatient COVID Care at Tampa General Hospital.

The quicker convalescent plasma is given to patients, the better off they will be. Therefore, Meyers is urging those to become a donor and says that the antibodies in a recovered patient could help those fighting the virus.

“The sooner you can get those antibodies, into the blood of the patient, the more your able to neutralize the infection,” said Meyers.

He also says the promising prognosis has more patients asking about the therapy, with many proposing how often you can get convalescent plasma, can they receive it more than once, and if it is helpful.

One Blood is collecting, testing, processing, and distributing, the convalescent plasma around the clock. With the five-hundred percent increase in hospital orders in just the past few weeks, donors like Heather, Lester, and Michael are needed more than ever.

“I feel good giving back, I feel like it’s patriotism, I feel like you’re helping a fellow American,” said James.

“I feel good when I do it, I feel like I’m making a difference,” said Seymour.

To learn more about convalescent plasma donations and to donate blood just head to OneBlood.org