He needed nearly 200 units of blood, so his friends opened up their veins
Christmas is the season of giving — blood — and a Kelowna man is proof
Shortly after Grant Lalonde’s aorta exploded, he needed 130 units of blood in a long, complicated, life-saving 14-hour surgery.
Another five operations followed in the next two days, requiring another 20 blood transfusions. That was in April.
Over the next two months in the intensivecare ward at Kelowna General Hospital, Lalonde would require 40 more transfusions during treatments.
On Tuesday, Lalonde — a 54-year-old retired plumbing and heating contractor — dropped by Canadian Blood Services clinic in Kelowna to say thanks and kick off a Christmas blood drive in his honour.
“I want to do as much as I can to make sure people know the importance of donating blood and then actually donate,” said Lalonde, who is still recovering and walks with a cane.
Lalonde had been a life-long blood donor until that day at the gym when he was struck with the unexpected aortic aneurysm.
The aorta is the largest artery in the body and wraps around the heart.
The damage to Lalonde’s aorta was so catastrophic doctors couldn’t determine the cause of the aneurysm.
He was otherwise active and healthy at the time, so doctors can only speculate it might be genetic or the aorta was unknowingly damaged by a past impact and it somehow held together until that fateful day at the gym.
“When Grant was unconscious at the hospital and his surgeries had cleaned out KGH’s blood bank, forcing the Vernon and Penticton hospitals to send more, I told all the family and friends that asked what they could do was to go give blood,” said Grant’s wife, Jodee.
“The word spread through our network and everybody else’s network and I’d say well over 200 people donated on Grant’s behalf all across the country.”
With Grant at the clinic Tuesday, 30 of his family and friends came by to give blood in his name. Richard and Karen Erickson were among them and are both first-time donors.
“We first met Grant and Jodee when I was working on the electrical in their new house in 2000,” said Richard.
“I invited myself to a card party then and we’ve been playing cards and travelling with them every since. And now we’re giving blood in Grant’s name.”
Grant now has a mechanical valve in his chest doing the work of his destroyed aorta.
It’s 29 millimetres in diameter and about 30 centimetres long.
Grant is expected to make a full recovery, but currently has low hemoglobin (the protein molecule in red blood cells), so he can’t donate blood himself yet. “But, as soon as I’m able, I’ll be giving again,” he said.
Canadian Blood Services’ territory manager Gayle Voyer said Grant’s visit was the perfect time to reiterate how imperative it is for healthy adults to donate blood if they can.
“Grant’s story is helping us launch our holiday campaign,” said Voyer.
“Giving blood now will help local patients who need it in Kelowna over Christmas.”
Book an appointment to give at Blood.ca.