What started out as a normal Friday for a Shawano Community High School student in March turned into a fight for survival.
Haley Wilber survived that fight, and she did it with the help of blood donations from nearly three dozen people.
Now, her parents and school officials are hoping to encourage others to step up this month and donate blood so that others who need it will get it.
Haley, who dreams of someday being a nurse, drove herself to and from school on March 15, and when she got home, she wasn’t feeling well. Her legs were becoming swollen, prompting her parents to take her to the emergency room.
Soon after, she was flown to the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison, where she was diagnosed with a rare liver condition called Wilson’s Disease. Her liver was failing, and she only had days to live.
The news threw her parents, Jon and Yvette Wilber, for a loop. Haley ate well and exercised, made good grades in school and followed the rules. The Wilbers were not prepared for their daughter to have a serious illness.
Put on a transplant list, Haley eventually got the liver she needed, but before and during the transplant, she required fresh blood to replace the blood in her system. The Wilbers said she received blood from 35 separate donors.
That is the average number of people who give blood during a single SCHS blood drive, according to Angela Bahr, adviser for the student council, which sponsors the drives. Usually, 45 to 50 appointments are made on average, but some have to cancel for various reasons, she said, or it is discovered they cannot donate due to low iron or other issues.
“We sponsor three blood drives a year,” Bahr said. “Two are during the school, and we do a summer blood drive.”
Although upperclassmen and staff make up the bulk of the donations, some community members come and give. The community is where the Wilbers and the school hope to make their case.
“The school was a big support when she had her transplant,” Jon Wilber said. “When you have a liver transplant, you need a lot of blood. Even before the surgery, she had to receive plasma and other transfusions. For us, it was an eye-opener.”
The community support during Haley’s illness prompted the Wilbers to give back. They were particularly touched by the comments left on the Caring Bridge (www.caringbridge.org), which dubs itself as a health social network.
“What we wanted to do was come in and help the school with this in any way we could by us thanking the school for doing what they did,” Yvette Wilber said. “When Haley was in the hospital, and people were writing on the Caring Bridge in the guestbook, it helped us get through knowing there was so much community support and involvement.”
She added that she feels having an example of a local resident who was helped through blood donations might prompt more people to care. The Wilbers had planned to do a blood drive on their own, but were strongly encouraged by the Red Cross to work with already established programs like SCHS has.
Donors must be at least age 16 with parental consent or 17 without, weigh at least 110 pounds and not have certain conditions or syndromes.
The reasons more students at SCHS don’t donate include ineligibility due to having tattoos or piercings or not being above 110 pounds, Bahr said. For others, some want to give but faint at the sight of blood and/or needles.
“We do announcements. We sign people up during lunch,” Bahr said. “We’re just trying to get the word out there.”
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