During a nationwide blood shortage, a 10-year-old from Eutawville is just one person who could see a dangerous impact if this continues.
Talon Adkins, 10, of Eutawville, was an active kid, playing football, when his family noticed he was often getting bruises, which they thought was pretty normal.
“He actually went hunting on Thanksgiving and my brother said he couldn’t even walk from the truck to the deer stand,” Talon’s mom Lisa Adkins said. “And that’s when we knew something else was going on.”
Lisa Adkins says doctors then discovered his hemoglobin levels were 4.3, but they should have been between 11 and 15. She says normal platelet levels range from 140,000 to 440,000. Talon’s were down to 8,000.
After being rushed to the Medical University of South Carolina, he was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia – a disease where bone marrow does not make enough blood cells for the body.
“It’s something new that I haven’t experienced before and it’s kind of scary,” Talon Adkins said.
Talon Adkins has been homeschooled since his diagnosis because he had to start getting transfusions twice a week at MUSC. This is one of the nine hospitals the American Red Cross serves in the Lowcountry and all year long they’ve been involved in a nationwide blood shortage.
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