Antigua - Blood donor O+ urgently needed

jimbaerselman

jimbaerselman

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Cruising Association member John Brown of "Arctic Tern" is currently in hospital in St John’s, Antigua and urgently requires O+ blood donors. The hospital has advised that, as of this morning, 22nd April 2014, the last unit of O+ blood group has been given. He is currently in the Intensive Care Unit of Mount Saint John Medical Center:

Mount St. John's Medical Centre
Michael's Mount
St. John's Antigua
Tel: (268) 484-2700
Fax: (268) 484-2955

His wife (Rosemary) can be contacted on +44 7968 744009

Please spread the word within Antigua to find donors.
 
jimbaerselman said:
Cruising Association member John Brown of "Arctic Tern" is currently in hospital in St John’s, Antigua and urgently requires O+ blood donors. The hospital has advised that, as of this morning, 22nd April 2014, the last unit of O+ blood group has been given. He is currently in the Intensive Care Unit of Mount Saint John Medical Center:

Mount St. John's Medical Centre
Michael's Mount
St. John's Antigua
Tel: (268) 484-2700
Fax: (268) 484-2955

His wife (Rosemary) can be contacted on +44 7968 744009

Please spread the word within Antigua to find donors.
Click to expand...

have you tried antiguanice.com

Ask for Kathy or Alison? they are able to spread word fast. Classics is on this week and Sailing week next week so will be very busy?
 
It might also be worthwhile asking the local radio station(s) to put out a call asking for donors to come forward?

Re the apparent scarcity of blood - there is not a tradition in these islands (or at least not in Barbados - I am sure that Antigua is similar) for people to donate blood voluntarily and regularly. It is usually only if a relative is having an operation, and then they are told to get a relative to donate some blood (any kind) to the limited bank supply.

But I do hope that they will be able to find some donors amongst the Classic Week attendees.
 
It appears that John had a serious operation on the 22nd, possibly to stop internal bleeding due to the then lack of compatible blood supplies. On 23rd his son sent a message "We have been incredibly touched by the response to date and more donations would be beneficial not only to my father but to the community as a whole" with "huge and humble thanks from his family for all the efforts made to date".
 
jimbaerselman said:
Cruising Association member John Brown of "Arctic Tern" is currently in hospital in St John’s, Antigua and urgently requires O+ blood donors. The hospital has advised that, as of this morning, 22nd April 2014, the last unit of O+ blood group has been given. He is currently in the Intensive Care Unit of Mount Saint John Medical Center:

Mount St. John's Medical Centre
Michael's Mount
St. John's Antigua
Tel: (268) 484-2700
Fax: (268) 484-2955

His wife (Rosemary) can be contacted on +44 7968 744009

Please spread the word within Antigua to find donors.
Click to expand...

Thought O+ was fairly common.
I'm O- & always in demand.
 
I've just received this response from a well placed contact in Antigua :

'It has already been dealt with, requirement well circulated around the island and incident being co-ordinated by ABSA.'
 
alant said:
Thought O+ was fairly common.
I'm O- & always in demand.
Click to expand...

The reason you are always in demand is that being O Negative you are a "universal donor". By that I mean that anybody can receive O Negative blood, no matter their own blood group. Many departments in almost every hospital in the (developed?) world, typically A&E depts and labour wards, will have at least 2 units of O Neg in the fridge for emergency treatment of patients with life threatening bleeding, when there is inadequate time for the lab to check their blood group and issue group compatible or cross matched blood.
Give yourself a gold star...:encouragement:
 
Thanks

In January this year my wife Rosemary and I, with one crew, sailed our Rustler 36 Arctic Tern from the Cape Verdes to Martinique, thence two-handed northwards to English Harbour, Antigua.

On Saturday 19th April we left English Harbour for the short coastwise sail to Jolly Harbour, intending to spend one night at anchor, before continuing northwards to St Maarten and the BVIs. However, on arrival at the Jolly Harbour anchorage, our Teleflex throttle cable broke and with some difficulty we motored in strong headwinds to the marina to source a replacement. It was now the Easter holiday, the chandlery was closed and with no prospect of getting a new cable any earlier we decided to wait until normal business resumed on Tuesday.

Late on Monday night I was on my way by ambulance to the intensive care unit at Mount St. John's Medical Center, with serious internal bleeding requiring an emergency operation. This happened with shocking suddenness and with no prior symptoms. I am in generally good health.

On my way to the operating theatre I overheard someone say that only two units of my blood type were available and that things did not look good. My son Simon and daughter Melissa, at home in the UK, did their best to reassure Rosemary and immediately set in train an appeal for blood donors in Antigua, mostly through links to the Cruising Association, other sailing organisations and the media in Antigua. The response was overwhelming. I can do no better than quote Simon's post earlier on this thread:

"We have been incredibly touched by the response to date and more donations would be beneficial not only to my father but to the community as a whole" with "huge and humble thanks from his family for all the efforts made to date".

I would like to thank Jim Baerselman, Richard Shead and all who have posted here. I wish I could personally thank those people who responded so generously to the appeal for blood, but I have only two names: those of Lorrie Zuzek and my daughter Melissa Mcconnell. Much gratitude to you and all your fellow donors who are unknown to me.

I am now recovering at home and learning more about the enormous practical help spontaneously offered to me and my family in Antigua by, amongst others, Jo Lucas at Jolly Harbour Marina, Kevin Moses of Antigua Cruising, Taxi driver Hammer and others whose acts of kindness helped my wife and daughter through a very stressful time.

We are also hugely indebted to the Surgeon, Doctor Rahakrishnan and his team at MSJMC who were responsible for my successful operation and my ability to return home within a relatively short time.

Arctic Tern has now been delivered to Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas USVI by Kevin Moses, for onward shipping to Southampton by a Peters and May vessel later this month.
 
>with serious internal bleeding requiring an emergency operation.

Wow, I'm very glad you got the overall support and blood you needed. Out of interest did the surgeon tell you what caused the bleeding to start? It might be a lesson for the rest of us.
 
JayBee said:
with serious internal bleeding requiring an emergency operation. This happened with shocking suddenness and with no prior symptoms. I am in generally good health.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for your post, and I'm so glad to hear the outcome was satisfactory.

Two years ago I faced a similar situation. Severe internal bleeding, which I was unaware of, brought me to a halt. Mine was caused by a "gastric stromal", a growth in the stomach lining.

For those interested, lack of blood causes a very high pulse rate (140 to 170), very low blood pressure (40/80), inability to stand up or use energy without blacking out, and later, losing control of your irises, which may randomly open wide, blinding you with light, or shut down, leaving you looking down a dark tunnel. In Kalamata hospital they rapidly diagnosed internal bleeding as a cause, and confirmed it by showing that the palm of my hand and nail beds were white, then extracting black stools, mainly composed of iron salts and oxides. 5 units of blood were needed - and luckily were available. But my family were asked to donate in case more may have been needed. Shipped to Athens by ambulance, another hospital found the stromal, and was able to determine that bleeding had stopped. An op a month later in UK removed the stromal.

I'm so glad so many people were able to help you - and me, for that matter. Internal bleeding is seriously life threatening . . . and as you mention, far from obvious until it's nearly too late.

JimB
 
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