JACKSONVILLE, Fla — A Jacksonville mom is encouraging others to donate blood in honor National Congenital Heart Awareness Week. This cause hits home for Lisa Floyd after her son Emmett was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect the day after he was born.
Floyd says Emmett was diagnosed with Common Arterial Trunk. “Basically it means his heart was not able to separate the incoming and outgoing blood. Everything was getting mixed up together,” said Floyd. Emmett would require surgery at just two weeks old to create the separation. Floyd adds that because he was so small, he didn’t have enough blood in his body to operate the machines needed to perform the surgery and needed blood products to move forward. Floyd says the treatments don’t grow with Emmett, so he needed ongoing surgeries. So far, the now 10-year-old Emmett had another surgery when he was two and a half years old and had a procedure done last June.
Floyd is an ambassador to The Healing Hearts Project, a community support group that she said, “helps families in Northeast Florida navigate the congenital heart failure life.”
James Skahn, the District Recruitment Manager at LifeSouth Community Blood Centers, said “we are perpetually in and out of emergency need, which would be under a two day supply of blood for hospitals.” Skahn says ideally, the blood bank would like to have a three days supply but the more the better. “Locally, it’s always been an issue. It’s something that we’re trying get as many people out to the blood drives as possible.
You can hear more on Emmett’s journey, and how you can help in the full interview with Lisa Floyd and James Skahn.
You can find more information on upcoming blood drives on the LifeSouth website.
You can learn more about The Healing Hearts Project on their website.
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