The American Red Cross on Monday declared a critical emergency blood shortage and urged people to donate.
The humanitarian organization, which is the largest supplier of blood products to hospitals and patient needs in the United States, said demand from hospitals exceeds the available supply of blood.
Dr. Courtney Lawrence, chief medical officer for the American Red Cross, told ABC News that nearly one-third of the organization’s blood reserves nationwide are depleted due to hospital needs.
Lawrence said one reason for the decline in donations is that more than 400 Red Cross blood drives across the country have been canceled due to severe winter weather.
Additionally, the United States is experiencing a moderately severe flu season, with some states reporting record levels of weekly infections and hospitalizations.
Blood vial stock photo.
Ojos de Hohalata/Stock Photography/Getty Images
“That can overwhelm our health care system, and it can also mean donors may not be well enough to come donate or may be busy caring for a sick loved one,” Lawrence said.
A lack of blood supply could impact the ability to treat patients in need, including trauma patients, chemotherapy patients with underlying blood disorders and sickle cell disease patients, Lawrence said. She called on Americans to donate if they can.
Reihane Hadjibeigi, 34, of Austin, Texas, was one of the patients in need and told ABC News that a blood transfusion saved her life.
Hadjibeigi said she lost a lot of blood when she gave birth to her first child in 2023, and the hospital provided two units of blood to send her home with her husband and newborn daughter.
“After about two weeks, things started not looking so good,” she told ABC News. “What I thought was just being tired as a new mom actually turned into fatigue. I was bleeding a lot. I was starting to not feel very well.”
When Hadjibeigi returned to the doctor two-and-a-half weeks after giving birth, she said medical staff found that about four centimeters of placenta remained in the uterine wall, which had become toxic.
Hadjibeigi underwent surgery the next morning, but said he started bleeding during the surgery and lost about 40% of his total blood volume.
In the recovery room, Hadjibeigi said she began to collapse again from blood loss and doctors rushed to give her a blood transfusion.
Reyhane Hadjibeigi (pictured) said a blood transfusion saved her life after she bled two-and-a-half weeks after giving birth.
Provided by Reyhane Hajibeigi
“Fortunately, they had blood on hand. They were able to get it into my body and basically brought me back to life,” she said.
Hadjibeigi said she hopes that by sharing her story, she can encourage people to donate if they can, especially knowing that their donation could help someone in need.
“Just assuming that the blood supply is always intact made it clearer how important blood donations are and how much we take them for granted,” she said. “In that case, you needed blood. That’s great.”
“It’s scary to think what would happen if we didn’t have the necessary blood products,” Hadjibeigi said. “So what was going on?”