For years, James Farrand of Lower Saucon Township would donate blood when he could. Most of his donations happened when his church or workplace would hold a blood drive. A mobile van made it very convenient, he says. Occasionally, he would go to Miller-Keystone Blood Center to donate directly.
At 72, Farrand was diagnosed with leukemia. For eight years, he was treated successfully with chemotherapies. Two years ago, his chemo regime stopped working.
“Blood transfusions are the only thing keeping me alive,” says Farrand, now 82.
Farrand knows the blood transfusions wouldn’t happen without blood donors like he was in his younger days. “Although I frequently gave blood when I was younger and healthy,” Farrand says, “my current condition makes me wish I had given more. Now I know how important it is.”
How often Farrand needs a transfusion varies. He has gone as long as four months between transfusions and as little as five days. He can tell when he needs a transfusion because “I just drag,” he says. “I do the slightest thing, and I start gasping for breath.”
Farrand gladly tells his story in the hopes that it will encourage others who are able to donate blood when they can.
St. Luke’s, a founding member of Miller-Keystone Blood Center over 50 years ago, continues its unwavering commitment as the only local health care network that identifies MKBC as its primary blood supplier. Without St. Luke’s steadfast support for MKBC, the Lehigh Valley could run out of the blood necessary to provide lifesaving care for patients, particularly during a regional or national blood shortage or other crisis.
MKBC has locations in Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Reading, the Poconos, Pittston and Ewing, NJ, and holds blood drives at area businesses and other locations.
“I really have been blessed to have outlived all the initially predicted shorter lifespans for me,” Farrand says. “I thank the Lord for his grace in letting me live this long, thank St. Luke’s medical staff for guiding a very effective treatment program and now many thanks to the generous blood donors who keep me going.
“You are all my heroes!”
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites. With annual net revenue of $4 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital.
Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke’s, a member of the Children’s Hospital Association, established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.
SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency, and patient satisfaction. St. Luke’s is a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. The Network’s flagship University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from Fortune/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2021 when it was identified as THE #1 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. In 2021, St. Luke’s was also identified as one of the 15 Top Health Systems nationally. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.
Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy
