Lena Harvey knows what it’s like to wait for a blood transfusion.
“You’re praying your body will hold out,” she said. “You’re praying someone decides to donate.”
The 38-year-old woman from Pike Township was diagnosed with sickle cell disease as a little girl. Chronic pain from the red blood disorder, which in the U.S. primarily affects African Americans, can be managed with blood transfusions and other medications.
“Blood donors took me out of my hospital bed and into the real world,” Harvey said.
That’s why she spent last Friday thanking donors at the annual Bleed Blue Blood Drive, hosted by the Indianapolis Colts and Versiti Blood Center of Indiana. More than 600 people spilled into Lucas Oil Stadium to donate as Christmas music blared and Colts cheerleaders waved their pom-poms.
Fewer people typically donate blood in December because they are busy with the holidays and it’s a month when schools — the locations for about a quarter of all blood drives — are closed. The Bleed Blue event is a blowout effort to rally as many donors as possible at the end of the year.
“We have not called a critical shortage yet, but we’ve been very close,” said Joe McGrath, Versiti’s regional manager. “That would mean there’s less than a day’s worth of supply on the shelf.”
He remembered an alarming phone call from the grandmother of a Leukemia patient during Christmas last year: “‘How do we get more blood so he isn’t being triaged?’”
When not enough people donate, trauma victims, cancer patients, people with sickle cell disease and others in need of blood are at risk. Versiti declared a critical shortage for blood in January and June of this year. One donation can save up to three lives.
Ben Barefoot, a 42-year-old volunteer, was biking to work one day in Manchester, Indiana, when he was struck by a semitruck.
“I lost my leg,” he said as he handed out limited edition Colts footballs to Bleed Blue donors. “If it wasn’t for people like them, we couldn’t survive.”
Versiti is seeing fewer donations this holiday season, McGrath said, despite more people becoming eligible to donate this year.
The Food and Drug Administration recently reversed a long-term policy that had banned men who have sex with men from donating blood.
Now everyone, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, is asked about new or multiple sexual partners from the past three months before they can give blood. People who have engaged in anal sex with new or multiple partners in the past three months are deferred from donating because of the increased risk of spreading infections like HIV.
“We are not seeing as large of an increase as we hoped with the changes,” said Kristine Pierce, the regional manager of donor recruitment at Versiti. “Part of that is making sure those groups know they can donate.”
People who are interested in donating can learn more about eligibility online. A list of Indianapolis blood drives are also found online, including a drive on Dec. 28 at Community Hospital North.
At Lucas Oil, 62-year-old donor Ray Bridges decided to dress for the holidays, donning a white beard and blue beanie. Staff members played along, referring to the southsider as Santa Claus.
“I donate whenever I’m available,” Bridges said. “I would hope if I was ever in need of blood, blood would be there for me.”
Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.
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