A local woman who battled Leukemia is now giving back to others what helped her survive — blood.
On Friday, she held a blood drive in Monroe hoping to put a dent in the current shortage the area is experiencing.
Julia Gardner, 24, is all smiles now that her Leukemia is in remission. She finished her treatment six months ago. She says she was first diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in 2015 just a few weeks after her honeymoon.
“It was a shock to us all,” she said. “We spent the first week or so crying and just being really sad about our situation, but after that, I said, ‘No more crying.’ We’re tough, we can get through this,” said Gardner.
She says donated blood and platelets were crucial to her treatment.
“The first thing I needed when I got to the hospital was a blood transfusion and I ended up getting around 30 to 35 blood and platelet transfusions throughout the whole treatment,” she said.
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