By Mike Finney

REHOBOTH BEACH — Ryan P. clearly remembers nurses getting bags of blood ready to be delivered into his transfusion-dependent body in order to keep him alive less than two years ago.

The Ocean View resident also remembered seeing all the different names that were written on the estimated 200 to 300 individual bags of blood and platelets that he received as he battled the rare disease of idiopathic aplastic anemia.

Last week, a year removed from being cured of the illness, Ryan took the time to thank some of the individuals whose blood donations helped to save his life and implored people to keep donating, even during the pandemic.

“It’s hard to put into words how amazing it is to be kept alive by the kindness of other humans, as I’m sure it’s amazing for the donors to see what their donation has led to,” he said, during a Blood Bank of Delmarva event held Thursday night at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats in Rehoboth Beach to mark National Blood Donor Month.

“In this case, the donations from complete strangers helped keep my life going [during] bone marrow failure. I am now back to living my best life — working and enjoying my sailboat and family because of the selfless acts of others.”

It turned out Ryan had a lot to celebrate on Friday — more than a year of recovery from his illness, a birthday and his upcoming wedding to his fiancée, Kara, a nurse at Beebe Healthcare in Lewes.

“The best part of it all is just being here,” Ryan said. “I’m not supposed to be. When I was sitting there getting all that blood I wanted to at least say ‘Thank you.’ I’m no massive millionaire or anything that can donate a ton of money or anything, so the only thing I could think to do would be to get out here and look them in the eye and say, ‘Thank you.’

“It really means the world to me. My whole world got turned upside down and there were 400 or 500 people there to keep me from falling all the way. You think about that now and imagine if there were 500 people in this room, how overwhelming that would be, just to keep me going. It’s more than humbling.”

Ryan got to meet several of the people whose blood donations helped keep him alive during his difficult times, including Paul Davis of Lewes.

“It was a blessing,” Mr. Davis said, “because donating blood, I’ve been doing it for about eight years, and you normally don’t think about that part of it (the human element) because it becomes so routine.

“Every three months you’re donating, and you don’t really think about it on a personal level. This really brought it home on a personal level – it was extraordinary.”

Fighting against long odds

It was July 2020 when Ryan P., whose last name he chose to keep private, began to experience migraine headaches, which didn’t seem to be too big of a deal.

However, the then-25-year-old’s teeth started to bleed. Next, his hearing and vision began to fade in and out. In the midst of a pandemic, he began to think he had COVID.

“My fiancée, who works at Beebe Healthcare, took my vitals,” he said. “We realized my heart rate was elevated. With symptoms of COVID [including] blood clotting, migraines – things like that – we thought either I have COVID or something’s off.”

But that wasn’t the problem. He then thought that maybe his diet and penchant for eating fast food might have been contributing to his problems.

“I remember thinking in my brain, I think I know what the problem is,” Ryan said. “All I eat is Chick-fil-A. So, there was a juice store that opened in Ocean View. I hopped on my moped and went down there and said, ‘Give me the greenest juice you’ve got. I need to reset my body.’

“So, I’m sitting outside having this juice and I almost go completely deaf and blind. Okay, I think it’s time (to go to the hospital). I don’t think this juice is going to help me.”

So, his fiancée drove him to Beebe’s facility in Millville on Aug. 5, 2020. There, they took bloodwork and waited for the lab results.

Then, he heard the commotion about the lab results for Room 12 – which was Ryan’s room.

The doctor was shocked. With Ryan’s hemoglobin count down to 3.1, the medic wondered how he could still be alive. In comparison, male donors presenting to donate blood must have a minimum hemoglobin count of 13.

“I have a helicopter on the way,” the doctor told Ryan. “You have no blood in your body. I’m surprised you’re even alive. You most likely have leukemia.”

The doctor ordered Ryan’s first transfusion at Beebe – three units of red blood cells. He would receive more transfusions on the flight to ChristianaCare Newark Campus in New Castle County.

“After further diagnosis at ChristianaCare and Johns Hopkins (in Baltimore) it turned out to be something far more rare called very severe idiopathic aplastic anemia,” Ryan said. “While leukemia sees about 200,000 cases a year, VSAA is only seen in one in 2 million people — less than 20,000 cases globally per year.

“It is actually amazing that Dr. Michael W. Lankiewicz from ChristianaCare Hematology was able to see this on my bone marrow biopsy.”

Ryan received 200 to possibly 300 units of lifesaving red blood cells and platelets as part of his treatment.

“I was completely transfusion dependent from Aug. 5 to September 28 (in 2020),” he said.

Given his rare diagnosis, he was also enrolled in a clinical trial at Johns Hopkins Medicine. A bone marrow transplant at Johns Hopkins from his brother helped cure Ryan, and he received transfusions until the day of his transplant, Sept. 28, 2020.

“My last transfusion was on Sept. 28, the day I got my bone marrow transplant,” he said. “Fast forward to now after 9 rounds of chemotherapy and my hair is back; it’s a different color now ... But I’m flying again, sailing again. I’m alive because of donations.”

He clearly remembers driving back home across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on Dec. 5, 2020, with a clear diagnosis and a bright future back in front of him after his half-year battle.

Nowadays, Ryan enjoys getting the chance to tell his story and trying to implore people of the life benefit of donating blood.

He knows the difference it can make.

“The more and more I get away from the event itself, the more I get comfortable kind of sharing the story,” Ryan said. “Not even being two years removed from it, I’m trying to process it still. It doesn’t feel real.”

Donations urgently needed

Patty Killeen, senior executive director of the Blood Bank of Delmarva, said the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has the blood levels across the region dangerously low.

The region’s blood supply continues to be threatened by low donor turnout and blood drive cancellations due to surging levels of COVID omicron cases.

Schools that had begun to reinstate student blood drives are once again cancelling, perpetuating the dramatic decline in youth and first-time donors.

Prior to the pandemic, 25% of annual blood donations were made at high schools and colleges, but the threat of a return to remote learning is making it nearly impossible for them to commit to hosting blood drives.

Blood centers across the country have been suffering from shortages since the start of the pandemic in March of 2020.

“Every week, we need over 1,800 blood and platelet donors to roll up their sleeves so we can meet our hospital demand and patient need,” Ms. Killeen said. “The long-term effect of the pandemic has resulted in virtually no youth first-time donors as schools and colleges cancelled blood drives.

“We’ve had 235 fewer blood drives booked this year and 5,000 Delmarva residents that have yet to return to donate since before the pandemic.”

She added that Delmarva’s health care system requires 350 to 380 donations each day to treat patients ranging from trauma victims to newborn babies and their mothers, cancer patients, etc.

“Complicating matters recently there has been a surge in blood usage as hospitals perform surgeries and patients seek medical care that was postponed during the pandemic,” said Ms. Killeen. “The increased need and lag in donors have created a chronic gap in blood donations.

“Around 38 percent of the population are eligible to give blood; only about 3 percent do. Giving blood only takes about an hour of your time and you can give every 56 days. That’s up to 18 lives each donor could save, every year. Giving blood is a powerful way to give back to Delmarva and all of the people who live here.”

Donors can schedule appointments by calling 1-888-8-BLOOD-8 or visiting here.