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Blood Donations and Childhood Cancer

While Leela was in the hematology/Oncology ward at Children's Hospital I saw first hand how donated blood can help and the effects of shortages of blood products. My layperson's understanding of how chemotherapy works is that is kills cells that are in the process of reproducing. Chemotherapy kills cancer cells because those cells reproduce rapidly. However, other cells in the body also reproduce relatively frequently. Children on chemo loose their hair because chemo interferes with its growth. Blood cells are also constantly in the process of being made by the body. Hence, chemo interferes with the body’s ability to make red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. The number of these cells within a child's body can be drastically reduced by chemo. Kids with very low red blood cell and platelet counts are given transfusions to boost their levels. One of the kids that Leela met while at Children's received a transfusion of red blood cells but could not receive the platelets she needed because there were none available that matched her type.