Marilyn M.
Taking Part in a Miracle
As I sit working at the information desk at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo, New York, young, pregnant women walk by on their way to doctors’ appointments. I see excitement, hope, and joy in their eyes, and of course, I see hints of worry and anxiety too. I wonder how many of these moms-to-be have ever heard of hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN)? I wonder how many realize what this disease meant for pre-RhoGAM® Brand moms like me.
Prior to 1968, thousands of babies in the United States died from this medical condition each and every year. Back then, no one knew what caused these heartbreaking deaths. They simply called them “blue babies,” the blue, of course, referring to the color of the skin of these poor children. Today, you rarely hear about these deaths because they so rarely occur.
My name is Marilyn M. and I have been a blood donor—specifically, a plasma donor—for 25 years. Plasma from my blood, and from the blood of other donors, is used to produce RhoGAM® Brand—a unique medicine that prevents HDN. Twice a week, my husband drives me 16 miles from our home to a lab located in Buffalo, New York. There, I donate my plasma: the process takes an hour and a half. Here is why I do it, and why RhoGAM® Brand is so important to me.
I always wanted a large family. After delivering two healthy sons, I became pregnant for the third time. It was 1959. While the baby was due on Christmas Eve, December 24th, I went into labor early and delivered on December 8th.
I remember lying in bed, coming out of the effects of the anesthesia. I can still remember hearing my family doctor talking to my husband, Paul. When they realized I was awake, our doctor gave me the sad news that our baby boy, Timothy, was stillborn. No reason was known for exactly what had happened. There was no baby to bring home to his brothers.
Because there was no reason to believe that this would ever happen again, I became pregnant again in 1961. Sadly, history repeated itself and in my ninth month I awoke in the hospital to hear the same sad news: my baby boy was stillborn. Again, no reason was given. His name was Vincent.
Two years later, still determined to have another child, I was pregnant again. I didn’t feel the baby move toward the end of my pregnancy. At that time they took x-rays and told me everything was OK. It wasn’t, however. Within a week or two, I gave birth to another stillborn baby. We named him Dennis.
It’s not the same when you leave the hospital carrying flowers instead of proudly carrying your tiny newborn. Or upon leaving the hospital, taking a trip immediately to the cemetery to see where they buried your baby.
My family doctor had delivered all my babies. Back then this was very normal for general practitioners. I decided to go to a specialist and that’s where I finally learned why I had lost my three babies.
The cause was HDN, a condition where antibodies form in the mother’s immune system and destroy the Rh-positive cells of the baby, resulting in severe illness or death. If the baby does live, there is the possibility of severe anemia, enlarged liver, respiratory distress, mental retardation, or cardiac failure.
Up to that time, the only treatment was an exchange transfusion immediately after birth, which often was too late. In an exchange transfusion, as much as 75% of the infant’s blood is replaced by healthy blood.
I later had another child, a daughter named Anne, who survived thanks to a total of eight transfusions, including several then-experimental intrauterine transfusions. But I also suffered the loss of yet another child—a child born after Anne—who, despite numerous transfusions, lived only a few hours after birth. The addition of three adopted children gave us the large family we had always wanted.
The Rh-negative moms-to-be who pass my desk today have no idea how lucky they are that there’s RhoGAM® Brand—and for that, I am thankful. I don’t want anyone to go through what I had to. Another happy, pregnant woman walks by me and I wonder: Did my plasma go into the RhoGAM® Brand shot that will protect her baby?