Children's Hospital

CBS4, Children's Hospital Team Up To Give Blood

BOSTON (CBS4) ― Local hospitals and the Red Cross are making an urgent plea for blood donations.

Even though the demand continues to rise, donations drop off dramatically in the summer because many people go on vacation. That's why CBS4 Boston is teaming up with Children's Hospital to help make it easier for folks to give the gift of life.

Shannon Grenham is only three years old, but has already gone several transfusions.

"Anybody with leukemia needs numerous blood and platelet transfusions, Shannon has had around eight already," said Shannon's dad Tom Grenham.

The Grenham's family and friends organized several blood drives to help Shannon and other sick kids who also need transfusions.

"We both work for the state police, so our human resources set up all these blood drives and before we knew it there were four or five pages of people coming in to donate and the bloodmobile was heading out to different barracks and headquarters," said Tom.

The bloodmobile has collected more than 4,800 units of blood at businesses across the state since it hit the road last November.

"The bloodmobile is really helpful at giving us the opportunity at going into the community and making it easier for businesses and organizations to donate," said Carlita McKinley of the Children's Hospital Blood Donor Center.

But supplies run especially low during the summer -- even though the demand generally increases.

"During the summer months, people go on vacation, the amount of surgeries goes up and donations go down so a lot of times we do need more people to come in and help us out," said McKinley.

CBS4 Boston and Children's Hospital are sponsoring a bloodmobile drive at Boston City Hall plaza on Tuesday, August 15 from 8a.m. to 3p.m.

If you'd like more information, visit ChildrensHospital.org

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)