BLOOD DONOR SUCCESS STORIES

 

Meet  “Syre”, a 12 year-old Labrador Retriever

from Kenosha, Wisconsin…..

Syre suddenly collapsed at home one afternoon last October and was rushed to his regular veterinarian by his concerned family. It was determined there that Syre had a large abdominal mass that had ruptured and the he was bleeding internally. Syre was in real trouble!

He was transferred to AETC for emergency stabilization and, ultimately, surgery to remove the mass. Needless to say, Syre had lost a lot of blood during sugery, and in order to save his life, we had to replace it with blood and plasma from four of our blood donor heroes!!!  Without these life-saving transfusions, Syre’s heart and other vital organs would have begun to fail.   Instead, after a 5-day stay at AETC,  a lot of care from our medical staff and a lot of love and support from his family, Syre was discharged!

Syre has come back to AETC, just to visit, wag his tail and get a few pets and treats!!! Syre’s family wishes to extend their gratitude to the dedicated families and their 4-legged heroes that make up our amazing blood donor program.   Great job!!!!!

 

 

Meet "Cricket", a 12 year-old English Springer Spaniel.....

Cricket presented to AETC Criticalist, Dr. Julio Toro, for a several day history of vomiting and diarrhea. Her owners were out of town and her caretaker noticed she had been eating a lot of bird seed and had been chewing on a towel, which had pieces missing from it by the time they found it!
Cricket was in severe shock and very depressed on arrival and had no detectable blood pressure. After several attempts to rescusitate Cricket with aggressive fluid therapy, Cricket did not respond and due to her advanced age, Dr. Toro gave her a guarded prognosis. An ultrasound revealed areas of Cricket's intestines that were suspicious for foreign material and they were perforated and leaking into her abdominal cavity.

Cricket required two surgeries to remove the pieces of towel that had obstructed and perforated her intestines. The affected intestinal areas were removed and and the septic peritonitis that had developed took special drains to resolve. Cricket received three large untis of Fresh Frozen Plasma from our wonderful blood donors to help fight her infection and after six days in our ICU, Cricket left with her grateful owners!

 

Meet "Fergie", a 2-year old Yorkshire Terrier......

Fergie was taking a walk with her owner in early November and was brutally attacked by a big dog that had escaped its yard! Fergie sustained several life-threatening bite wounds to her chest and abdomen. When she arrived at AETC emergency service, Fergie was in shock  and barely responsive!!!! The doctor on duty gave Fergie's owners a grave prognosis as she was stabilized and rushed into emergency surgery. The surgeon discovered a large hole in one of Fergie's lungs, causing her to bleed into her chest cavity. During surgery, Fergie received a unit of whole blood to replace what she had lost as a result of this trauma. After removing the damaged lung and repairing the holes in the chest wall, Fergie was transferred to our Intensive Care Unit for recovery. For five days, Fergie required intense care by our medical staff in the form of oxygen, antibiotics, pain medication and several more units of blood and plasma. Each day, she improved a little more and by the fifth day, Fergie was named a miracle dog!!!! With the help of our committed donor families and their hero dogs, Fergie survived severe trauma and a long, rocky recovery.

This is a picture of Fergie at her staple removal, the sweater was to keep her warm as she had all of her fur shaved off for her surgery and wound care!!!!

 

 

 

Meet "Merlin", a 7 year old Bernese Mountain Dog...

"Merlin" and his family participated in the Grayslake Days parade! Unfortunately, it was a hot, late summer day and "Merlin", being a hairy guy, did not take the heat very well. "Merlin" presented to AETC emergency service with a body temperature of 107! He was very lethargic and depressed. Our doctors diagnosed "Merlin" with heat stroke and our staff was faced with the task of cooling "Merlin" down slowly, as cooling them too fast can be dangerous.

One of the dangers of heat stroke is the damage extreme heat can cause to the lining of blood vessels and this can result in an animal's inability to clot its blood. "Merlin" was showing signs of not only shock, but the damage to his vessels was already apparent. The best treatment for this condition is Fresh Frozen Plasma, which we stock in our blood bank. Thanks to our generous blood donor families and their "hero" dogs, "Merlin" was able to receive 7 double units of Fresh Frozen Plasma, which replaced the clotting factors he so desperately needed.

After a 6 day hospital stay, and many hours of outstanding medical and nursing care, "Merlin" walked out the front door of AETC wagging his tail!!!!!