News and Events

On Christmas Day of 2008, 4-year-old Brooke Mulford of Salisbury, MD felt sick. She laid on the couch all day instead of playing with her presents from Santa. Over the next week, she fought an ear infection, a sinus infection and severe pains in her legs. In fact, her leg pain got so bad that she couldn't walk. Her parents took her to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where scans revealed cancer in her vertebrae, hips and other bones. She was diagnosed with stage 4 nueroblastoma, a rare cancer with a 30% survival rate.

"Amy and I sat there feeling helpless as our little angel, our most precious thing in life, begins the fight of her life and has to endure such pain," Rob said. "It's been the love and support of our family, friends, and community that has given us the strength to cope."

Brooke with her mother, Amy

Brooke gets rounds of chemo treatments every 3 weeks, along with blood transfusions of red cells and platelets.

"We have so much to worry about during Brooke's fight with the cancer," Rob said. "It's so comforting to know that the blood she needs as part of her treatment will be there when she needs it."

To make an appointment to give blood, call 1 888 8-BLOOD-8 or click HERE.

Brooke with her parents, Rob and Amy

SALISBURY, MD - It's no secret that blood donors love the canteen cookies. And the cookie selection in Salisbury just got a little sweeter.

The Girl Scout Service Unit 97 from the Girl Scouts Chesapeake Bay Council will be delivering 240 boxes of cookies to the Blood Bank's Salisbury Donor Center (1309 Mt. Hermon Road) on Tuesday, April 28 at 4pm.

Blood Bank of Delmarva was chosen as a recipient of this cookie donation through an annual campaign called "Operation Taste of Home." The campaign allows the public to buy Girl Scout cookies that will be sent to military troops around the world and to local organizations on Delmarva.

"Our program became so successful that the USO was becoming inundated with cookies," said Denise Eberspeaker of the Wicomico County unit of the Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay. "Since there is also such a need at the local level, especially with the way the economy is now, we send cookies to organizations that save lives on Delmarva as well."

The cookies will be served to donors in the Salisbury Center canteen after their blood donation and at mobile locations in the area.

Rebecca Crosen is a busy wife and mother. She also spends time traveling and representing the state as Mrs. Delaware International 2009. With that kind of schedule, you would never guess that Rebecca is living with a severe case of Anemia that almost took her life.

In the summer of 2004, Rebecca was feeling cold and weak. She went to the doctor and blood work discovered critically low iron levels.

"Average hemoglobin levels in adults range from twelve to seventeen. I was a 3.5," Rebecca said. "My doctor wouldn't let me go home. I had to be driven immediately to the hospital."

There she received 6 units of blood and a full unit of iron. Rebecca has also needed other emergency blood and iron transfusions over the years to help balance her iron deficiency.

"It's my passion to help put a face to the constant need for blood donors and give it a voice," Rebecca said. "Please donate blood. I'm living proof of its importance."

To make an appointment to give blood, call 1 888 8-BLOOD-8 or click here.

Rebecca with her 9-year-old daughter, Alexis

NEWARK, DE - 58-year-old Eric Mayer of Newark, Delaware will be making his 200th platelet donation at Blood Bank of Delmarva's Christiana Center on Thursday, April 23 at 7:30am (donation will last more than one hour). He joins an elite group of only 5 other platelet donors in the Blood Bank database who have donated more than 200 times.

"I remember the first time I told my mom I was coming in to donate platelets about 15 years ago," Mayer said. "She got the biggest smile on her face and told me how proud she was. I've been donating platelets twice a month ever since. I consider the Blood Bank my happy place."

A platelet donation (called plateletpheresis) provides 6 to 10 times more platelets than platelets extracted from a regular whole blood donation. Platelets have a shelf life of just five days and are needed to treat people with leukemia or cancer. During plateletpheresis, the donor's blood passes through a machine that separates out the platelets and returns the red cells and other components to the donor in a sterile procedure. The process takes about 90 minutes. Donors can give platelets every two weeks.

To learn more about becoming a pheresis donor, click here.