AURORA, Colo. — At 10:00 a.m. Friday, 7-year-old Peyton Clark seemingly had enough energy to make it to the moon.
"High!" Peyton Clark yelled to her brother, Elijah, as he pushed her on a swing.
“Higher like you’ve never done before!" she shouted. "Blast me off to space!"
The energy Peyton Clark is able to let loose at the park comes courtesy of complete strangers. Clark relies on blood donations to get through each day.
“She has a condition called beta thalassemia major which is a genetic blood disorder, which means that her body doesn’t make normal hemoglobin," explained Janet Clark, Peyton's mom.
Janet Clark's little girl needs blood transfusions about every four weeks at Children's Hospital Colorado. This summer, the mother hasn't stopped worrying about her daughter's next trip to the hospital.
“For us, it’s constantly a question, will she have what she needs when we go to get her next transfusion?” Janet Clark said.
Dr. Kyle Annen, medical director of the transfusion service of Children's Hospital Colorado, said the hospital feels the impact of a nationwide blood shortage.
"We’ve been struggling a lot this summer, and I don’t know how it’s going to let up or if it’s going to let up going into the fall, and I think that’s particularly concerning," Annen said.
Children's Hospital supplies between 95 and 97 percent of its own blood products, Annen said. The hospital has its own blood donation center, but it's been less than busy this summer.
“It may be a component of the pandemic," Annen said. "People are traveling more, people are going back to school, so they don’t necessarily have time to donate.”
Annen and her colleagues encourage people from all different backgrounds to give, so they can help kids like Peyton Clark.
“Kids like Peyton who have thalassemia or sickle cell disease really have special blood needs," Annen explained. "In particular, we need donations from communities of color to support those special needs.”
A stranger's gift can ease a mother's worries and fuel a 7-year-old's energy for many more years to come.
"They say blood is life, or your life’s blood," Janet Clark said. "For [Peyton], it really is.”
The blood donation center at Children's Hospital Colorado is open Monday through Thursday from 6:30 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. and Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. You can make an appointment by calling 720-777-5398.
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