Did My Donated Convalescent Plasma Make It To President Trump?

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Call 866-WIN-ASIA or to see chickens and other animals to donate, go to crittercampaign.org. Oh, yes he does. He knows the plans he has for you. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is the nation's number one show for you as a family caregiver. That is my wife, Gracie, from her record, Resilient.

She does a great job with that. You can get a copy of that today, right now, if you want. Hopeforthecaregiver.com.

Hopeforthecaregiver.com. All right, John, you know, you've heard of this thing called convalescent plasma. I have. Have you ever heard of this? Yes, yes.

Because we discussed this both on and off the air. I tested positive for the rona. The vidi? Whereas Gracie got a full blown case of this thing and she got pretty sick. I didn't really get anything any symptom wise.

He has a nice AC symptomatic. Well, and I didn't get it from her either because I was with her throughout the whole journey. And then months later, I got it from some people that came in from out of town, evidently, or something.

I don't know. So I got a call from a company called Vitalant. They called me up and they said, we'd like for you to donate your plasma for this convalescent plasma treatment. Hey, can we get your precious bodily fluids? They asked and I said, well, sure, why not?

You know, five bucks is five bucks. No, I was I was happy to do it. I went down there. The process is relatively smooth, painless. You know, when they pulled the needle out and they had to put their foot on my chest to yank it out, that was a little uncomfortable. But no, I'm just kidding. Just kidding. No, it was it was I've never I've donated blood before, but never plasma. And that's a little bit different process. Slightly different.

Yeah. Well, and so I asked the folks from Vitalant, this is a national company, to come on the show today and they're here with us. This is Brooke Ray.

She's the communications manager for Vitalant. So, Brooke, thank you for taking time on a Sunday afternoon to call the show. I really do appreciate it. Hi, Peter.

Thanks so much for having me. All right. Tell me this. What are the chances that they're treating President Trump with my plasma? I can't speak to that one.

I do not know what's going on with that. Would that not be awesome? Oh, that'd be so awesome. No, I just you know, that would be kind of funny.

I wonder what to do to his hair to have my hair. Oh, yeah. But, you know, I'm really happy to do this.

Yeah, I have a silver head of hair. How many how many folks right now? You have a serious need for this and all serious. You guys have a significant need for this, right? Yes, there's actually an emergency need for convalescent plasma donations right now, just because the demand is so high. There's so many people in the hospital that are needing that.

So we are asking anyone who has tested positive and recovered and is eligible to donate their convalescent plasma to do so. Well, I went down there. It took you know, I had to go through a few little paperwork things. And then the process took roughly about 45 minutes. And it was it was you just sit there. The only thing is, is you have to kind of hold your arm out and not move your arm. So your arm muscles are really, really tired afterwards, John. You just it feels like you've kind of, you know, hyper extent your arm is a little bit stiff. So you have to work your arm because you got to be still. You did like 20 rounds of ping pong or something like that.

But it was it was a little bit different. But what is what's the easiest way? What are some things that people need to know beforehand, Brooke, on this as far as are they are they qualified or not? Because not everybody that tests positive for covid can necessarily do this.

Exactly. And, you know, there is there are eligibility requirements for any type of donation that you should check before you go just to make sure you can give even just blood donation. So by talent dot org has all of your eligibility answers on our Web site. But we we ask that you're feeling well. We ask that if you're not feeling well and you do currently have coronavirus, definitely wait until you're fully recovered to come donate. And then you need to be at least 110 pounds. We ask that you hydrate really well the day you come donate. You eat a great meal before so you don't pass out.

You know, we want you to be feeling as well as possible. But, yes, a convalescent plasma. You are correct.

It takes about an hour compared to normal whole blood donation, which can be a little quicker. But they do. They set you up. They it's to an apheresis machine. It's what it's called. And it basically pulls the plasma from your body and then returns all the other blood components to you. So you are giving your plasma, but you get to keep all of the other things like your whole blood. Right. And that they mix it with a little bit of saline to come back into your body, right? Correct. Yes. And that actually does hydrate you a little bit more.

Some some people say they do feel pretty good after donating plasma. Well, they had great snacks too, John. This is my this is my next question. The most important part. The snacks? Yes. I've donated plasma before. Not for this purpose, but, you know, I just that it's a it is a lovely thing to be able to do.

You do it for the snacks. Yeah, absolutely. Are you kidding me?

100 percent. Some people do. They usually get a good movie on, you know. Yeah, we do. You know, you know, and it's something that's good that's coming out of all this craziness. And it's a way that we can help.

And I would encourage people to do that. Gracie cannot. She takes Coumadin. So she can't do it. She's on blood thinners. So she can't do that.

And I'm sorry for that because she'd like to do it, too. But I think it's a great way for us to pull together as a nation to do these things. And they say that, what, it was about anywhere from three to five people that would benefit from mine. Yeah, one donation can save up to four people who are currently fighting it with a severe case. So that's fantastic to be able to help four different people with your one donation. Well, I'm going to do this again at the end of this month. And you can do it.

I would do it more. But you guys don't have a. The people that come out here, the team that comes to where we are, we're kind of a remote rural area. And so they don't come out as frequent. But they are going to be here at the end of this month. And so I'm going to do it again. I think you can do it once every two weeks or so or less.

How was it? What's the time? So you can actually donate your convalescent plasma every seven days. You do need a medical director's approval through Vitalant to do it that often.

But normal plasma you can do every twenty eight days. So it's pretty often. And it's a great way to get back to the community, like you said, especially in a time of uncertainty. And we're making everything very safe, very disinfected right now for everyone who comes in. So we want you to feel as comfortable as possible. Yeah, it was it was very just so you'll know from your people that came out this way, everything was completely clean. We were completely distant from everybody who was masked up properly, you know, gloves, the whole thing. And there was at no point did I feel like this was, you know, kind of rinky dink or what?

What have I gotten myself into? It was it was real straight up. And there was and it was a great sense of camaraderie there because, you know, we knew that we were doing something positive against something really, really, really negative. And and I think that's important.

So if you can do it and I don't know how. Have you been diagnosed with have you tested positive for this at all? Me? Yes.

No, no, I have not, thankfully. But, you know, as more and more people are getting that positive test. So this is also something people might not know. If you do come donate blood right now, any donation or plasma or platelets that will be tested for antibodies to covid-19. And so you'll be able to go into your donor portal. I think it's about two weeks after your donation.

Check it. And it'll tell you if you are positive or negative, telling you whether you've had that coronavirus in the past. And so if you are positive, then that gives you a chance to see if you're eligible to donate your convalescent plasma. Yeah, a lot of people are getting this and didn't know it because in my case, I would have not gotten tested for what I was showing symptomatically.

And I still don't know that I was really so because it was about here around horses and a barn and everything else. So I have I get, you know, hay fever. And so and then then they asked me, they said, well, are you are you fatigued? And I said, I've been a caregiver for 34 years. Yeah. And I said, do you have do you have headaches? I said, caregiver, 34 years. Yeah. Are you irritable?

Yeah. You know, every caregiver's got Corona evidently because that's if that's the science. But no, I had a I had a cough that was a little bit persistent, but I have I've had that on and off for 10 years. So I wouldn't have necessarily gone to the doctor had the county nurse called me up and say, hey, you've been exposed to somebody and you need to go get tested. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone. So I wonder how many people are like that that have no clue on whether or not they just went through it.

And yeah, that was it. You know, but hey, so this is a way to find out if you have that you could you use this for other stuff, too, as well. They could donate through you guys. We can, you know, with blood or whatever, through other things, correct? Of course.

Yes. So if you, you know, don't have the coronavirus, you're very lucky, but you still can donate blood or platelets. So, you know, blood goes to so many different patients for different reasons.

You may not think about I mean, you see the headline making news such as car crashes or traumas. Of course, blood's needed for that. But there are also other reasons people with blood disorders who need blood on a biweekly basis or there's people who are giving birth and might need blood for those reasons. And so there's so many reasons to donate and platelets often go to help people who are recovering from cancer treatment and helps people who might have had some sort of burn situation. So there's so many there's a whole list of reasons and patients that receive these donations on a daily basis.

So it's so important. And, you know, there's centers in Billings, Butte and Kalispell, but there's also blood drives throughout the state. So if you are interested in donating, just just go to Vitalant dot org and find what's closest to you. You guys are all across the country because this that's where I am in Montana, in the Billings, Butte and Kalispell area. But what about do you guys have something in Nashville? Because I'm going to get John down there. You know, I see John, by the way, Brooke, I'm sorry, I didn't properly introduce you.

John has been with me from the beginning of the show for many, many years ago. And he is in from Nashville. I'm in Montana.

John's in Nashville. And Ed, the guy that answers the phone, the engineer there, he's in Dallas. So, OK, so I expect. So I would imagine you've got a place in Dallas. So, Ed, I want you to, you know, get ready for 40 cities across the United States. Yeah.

Just go to the Web site, see if we're near you. And, you know, if not, there are other centers that definitely can collect blood donations. And what's that website again? Vitalant. V, I, T, A, L, A, N, T. Vitalant. Vitalant. Correct. Vitalant.org or dot com. It's dot org.

Dot org. Well, it's a great work that you guys are doing. I get the feeling that, Brooke, you don't have to comment on this because I don't want to get you in trouble. But I get the feeling that we probably need to learn to live with this virus because I don't see it going away anytime soon. And it's not like, you know, polio or smallpox that we're going to be able to eradicate, almost eradicate kind of thing. I think this is something we're going to have to learn to live with it as a nation, as a people. And unfortunately, I think a lot of people are going to end up, I don't know, I don't see how we're not going to all get it at some point somehow. But hopefully we built up some level of immunities or the vaccine, the treatments, and certainly with this type of treatment.

I don't know. John, what do you think? Do you have any thoughts on that?

I have lots of thoughts about lots of things. Well, what my thoughts are is that regardless of how it turns out, if we go into it with the mindset of, yeah, we're going to have to live with this for a while, that is going to best prepare us for whatever is to come. And, you know, if then we do get a vaccine that works really, really well, then all that preparation, you say, oh, then that's gravy. That's gravy.

That's gravy. Fantastic. Then we're better prepared for the next thing that comes along, because we as humans are going to have to deal with infectious diseases and really nasty plagues, probably for, you know, the foreseeable future of this species. Well, I think you're right. I think it's better to prepare ourselves. And this is one way that we can. And let's don't let these convalescent plasma banks go empty.

Let's build this up. This is a small thing. It takes very little time.

It really is. It's a very almost a painless process. Yeah, if you don't like needles, but it really was so quick. I mean, they, you know, they slap you first and then they stick the needle in you. That's what they do. Is that standard training, Brooke? Is that what you guessed?

That's what you're talking about. Look, you got a mouth on you, Peter. All right.

I guarantee you're going to feel a little stick, but it was no, they were they were really great. It is a small thing that we can do that can make a difference. Brooke, I would really, though, appreciate if you would dig around and see if my plasma made it to President Trump.

We'll do our best to see. Yeah, if it does, you got to call back and tell me, because I'd like to know, because believe me, it would be the best plasma ever. He would have no better plasma. All the other plasma would be losers.

This would be great plasma. Believe me. No, stop.

Stop. Brooke Ray, she is a communications manager at Vitalant. She's just a great sport to call in. You're doing a great work, Brooke, and we're very, very grateful that you called in. Vitalant.org.

It's a it's the gift that keeps on giving, literally. And let's do it together. OK, this is Hope for the Caregiver. Brooke, thank you so much for calling in. Hope for the Caregiver.

We'll be right back. Hey, this is Larry the Cable Guy. You are listening to Hope for the Caregiver with Peter Rosenberg.

And if you're not listening to it, you're a communist. Have you ever struggled to trust God when lousy things happen to you? I'm Gracie Rosenberger. And in 1983, I experienced a horrific car accident leading to 80 surgeries and both legs amputated. I questioned why God allowed something so brutal to happen to me.

But over time, my questions changed and I discovered courage to trust God. That understanding, along with an appreciation for quality prosthetic limbs, led me to establish Standing with Hope. For more than a dozen years, we've been working with the government of Ghana and West Africa, equipping and training local workers to build and maintain quality prosthetic limbs for their own people. On a regular basis, we purchase and ship equipment and supplies.

And with the help of inmates in a Tennessee prison, we also recycle parts from donated limbs. All of this is to point others to Christ, the source of my hope and strength. Please visit standingwithhope.com to learn more and participate in lifting others up. For more information, visit standingwithhope.com. I'm Gracie and I am standing with hope. Yeah, I just thought they were telling me I was a little bit ugly, you know.

Just like Rodney Dangerfield says, they told me I had to wear two face masks. But the reason I'm referencing that is because you know of our work for many years with prosthetic limbs. And we can't go to Ghana right now.

And I certainly am not going to take Gracie over there. We've been going to Ghana for many, many years to help work with amputees over there. We've been sending supplies and we're sponsoring more patients, but we're not sending teams right now because we just can't. And we've got patients that are lining up that are really needing some quality prosthetic care. And we're contracting out with prosthetic providers there in West Africa, in Ghana. And they're helping these patients that we really are urgently trying to treat. We get them up walking. One of them is, and you know, one of the criteria we have with our patients, John, is we target children and working age adults. Children, students, and working age adults. And really in that order. Gotcha. Because we want to give them a fighting chance to have a productive life with a quality prosthetic limb.

This is what Gracie envisioned after, you know, losing her own legs. And it's not that we don't want to help aging or so forth. It's just that that's where our targets are. And lately we've been having a lot of these.

Yeah. And we've had a lot of kids. We've had some students that are getting close to their graduation, but they're constantly needing prosthetic adjustments or a new leg, a new socket, new liners and sleeve. And we're trying to ship things over. We're trying to sponsor things and contract with the workers there to do it. And we could use the help. So I'm asking standingwithhope.com. Would you just take a moment to go out to standingwithhope.com, look at the work we're doing, look what you're seeing and get involved. And you could certainly write us and ask us any questions about it, but we would love to have your help today.

We really need it today for any donation amount, whatever's on your heart, doesn't matter. We're going to send you a copy of Gracie's CD. And we just want you to know that this is this is what we're serious about doing. We've been doing this for a long time.

We can't go over there in person. But guess what? We could still help them get up and walk. And you could be a part of that today. It's a gift that keeps on walking. I came up with that myself, John. Oh, yeah, did you?

I'm pretty proud of that. The gift that keeps on walking. But it does. It does. Yeah, it's true. And with Gracie being a double amputee herself, we understand that in our world. In fact, we're dealing with prosthetic stuff right now with her.

And because she's constantly needing adjustments and so forth. And so we understand the need and we're asking you to help with it today. So go to standingwithhope.com today. Thank you so much.