A blood drive on Jan. 30 is being held at Hampton high school from 7:15 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. in honor of a junior who has been battling acute lymphoma leukemia since last year.
Hampton’s Sam Triulzi was diagnosed with the disease last May at the end of his sophomore year, according to his dad, Darrell.
He has been under treatment since then at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC where he has received chemotherapy and multiple transfusions of red cells and platelets. The need for blood is expected for treatment for this particular cancer due “to the chemotherapy toxic effect on the bone marrow where blood cells are made,” said his dad.
Ironically, Darrell is a physician who specializes in blood transfusion and serves as medical director for the UPMC blood banks, including the one at Children’s Hospital.
“Thus, I am acutely aware of the need for blood and the critical role it plays in patient care including my own son. I am a platelet donor myself,” he said.
The blood drive will be held at the high school auxiliary gym on McCully Road in Allison Park and is being operated by Vitalant, which was formerly Central Blood Bank, according to the HTSD website.
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