A special blood drive has been scheduled in Tyrone for Wednesday, May 31 to help replenish blood that has been used and will continue to be used by an 18-year-old Amish boy from the area.
\nJonathan \u201cYonni\u201d Renno was diagnosed with a form of Leukemia in early April. Since then he has received chemotherapy treatments and blood transfusions at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh.
\nThe blood drive being held in Tyrone will replenish the blood \u201cYonni\u201d has used and will continue to use throughout his treatment. Information from blood drive organizers said \u201cYonni\u201d may also be a candidate for a bone marrow (stem cell) transplant in the future.
\nAnyone donating blood at the drive may elect to become a part of the National Marrow Donor Program (at no charge) by completing additional paperwork and having an extra sample of blood drawn.
\nPittsburgh-based Central Blood Bank, a non-profit organization that supplies blood and blood products to 40 hospitals in western Pennsylvania including West Penn Hospital, is coordinating the effort. The Central Blood Bank is also a member of the National Marrow Donor Program.
\nMarcy Braunstein, manager of the blood bank\u2019s Replenish the Need program said, \u201cWhen a patient is using a lot of blood, they or their family are contacted by the hospital to see if they want to make an effort to replace the blood.
\n\u201cThey (the hospital) approached the family and asked if they wanted to replace (the blood) and they thought it was a good idea,\u201d said Braunstein. \u201cThey called Central Blood Bank in.\u201d
\nBraunstein said she met Jonathan, his mother, father and other family members. She noted the teen is the oldest of nine children.
\n\u201cThey put me in touch with Judy Duey, who is a friend of theirs, and we started to plan the blood drive,\u201d said Braunstein.
\nChurches, the Amish community, the Tyrone Area Chamber of Commerce and businesses were contacted to promote the blood drive.
\n\u201cIt sounds like there is a real interest in people donating to try and replenish blood he\u2019s used,\u201d said Braunstein.
\n\u201cWe do not normally come out to the eastern part of the state,\u201d said Braunstein. \u201cHowever, we do find there are a lot of patients that do come from those areas and they come to Pittsburgh for their health care and they\u2019re using blood and other treatments here.\u201d
\nBraunstein said the idea was to have the people in the community where \u201cYonni\u201d is from respond to replenish the blood. She said the Replenish the Need program was established in the last year.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s successful because we are able to put a face on the patient,\u201d said Braunstein. \u201cWe ask all the time for people to donate blood for patients in hospitals. When they actually know of a specific case, the excuses they previously had (aren\u2019t there).\u201d
\nThe blood drive for Jonathan \u201cYonni\u201d Renno will be held on Wednesday, May 31 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 24 W. 10th St. (the empty storefront next to Gardner\u2019s Candies) in downtown Tyrone. There will also be a bake sale and fresh produce available.
\nThose donating blood must bring proper identification. A Central Blood Bank or military ID, driver\u2019s license, employee badge with photo and full name are all approved forms of identification. A birth certificate along with a picture ID that includes the donor\u2019s full name will also be accepted.
\nTo schedule an appointment for the blood drive contact Judy Duey at 684-2076. For more information about the Central Blood Bank call 1-866-DONORS-1 or go online at www.centralbloodbank.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A special blood drive has been scheduled in Tyrone for Wednesday, May 31 to help replenish blood that has been used and will continue to be used by an 18-year-old Amish boy from the area. Jonathan \u201cYonni\u201d Renno was diagnosed with a form of Leukemia in early April. Since then he has received chemotherapy treatments […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41172\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}