Blood Donations Keep Leukemia Patient Alive

For years, James Farrand of Lower Saucon Township would donate blood when he could. Most of his donations happened when his church or workplace would hold a blood drive. A mobile van made it very convenient, he says. Occasionally, he would go to Miller-Keystone Blood Center to donate directly.

At 72, Farrand was diagnosed with leukemia. For eight years, he was treated successfully with chemotherapies. Two years ago, his chemo regime stopped working.

“Blood transfusions are the only thing keeping me alive,” says Farrand, now 82.

Farrand knows the blood transfusions wouldn’t happen without blood donors like he was in his younger days. “Although I frequently gave blood when I was younger and healthy,” Farrand says, “my current condition makes me wish I had given more. Now I know how important it is.”

How often Farrand needs a transfusion varies. He has gone as long as four months between transfusions and as little as five days. He can tell when he needs a transfusion because “I just drag,” he says. “I do the slightest thing, and I start gasping for breath.”

Farrand gladly tells his story in the hopes that it will encourage others who are able to donate blood when they can.

St. Luke’s, a founding member of Miller-Keystone Blood Center over 50 years ago, continues its unwavering commitment as the only local health care network that identifies MKBC as its primary blood supplier. Without St. Luke’s steadfast support for MKBC, the Lehigh Valley could run out of the blood necessary to provide lifesaving care for patients, particularly during a regional or national blood shortage or other crisis.

MKBC has locations in Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Reading, the Poconos, Pittston and Ewing, NJ, and holds blood drives at area businesses and other locations.

“I really have been blessed to have outlived all the initially predicted shorter lifespans for me,” Farrand says. “I thank the Lord for his grace in letting me live this long, thank St. Luke's medical staff for guiding a very effective treatment program and now many thanks to the generous blood donors who keep me going.

“You are all my heroes!"