How a unit of donated blood linked two strangers in a lifesaving surgery

Just days before Quinyana Price rushed to the HCMC emergency room in Minneapolis, Betsy Murray went to Memorial Blood Center in St. Paul to donate two units of red blood.

The two strangers then became linked when, by chance, Price was given Murray’s same type O blood.

Each year in Minnesota, thousands of such exchanges occur, anonymously and unnoted. The Minnesota Star Tribune followed one from start to finish to reveal how the complex process of blood donation and distribution works, and why agencies are clamoring for more donors.

The Memorial Blood Center’s Minnesota chapter provides 125,000 blood products annually for surgeries and treatments, combining with the Red Cross to supply the bulk of the state’s hospitals. The blood center needs 2,000 donors per week to meet demand, given the number of patients with scheduled procedures or unexpected traumas.

Many medical emergencies could not be addressed without donated blood. “It’s the only solution,” said Phil Losacker, the nonprofit’s community relations manager.

Price, 43, has received many transfusions because she has sickle cell disease, which turns round red blood cells into crescents that painfully restrict blood flow and disrupt bodily functions. But she said she always will remember this transfusion because her abnormal blood had clogged and shut down her spleen. Leaving the organ alone could have been fatal, she said, but removing it presented grave risks as well.

Price needed donor blood, a lot of it, to swap out her body’s supply and make surgery safer.

“It basically saved my life,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been able to have that surgery.”

The story began Nov. 22 with Murray, whose O-negative blood is special because it can be transfused into anyone.

The 51-year-old has given 6 gallons of blood over 53 donations. She admits having a guilty-pleasure love of Lorna Doone cookies that are stocked in the snack basket at her donor site.

But mostly, she said, she feels a responsibility to donate, knowing that only 7% of people carry her needed blood type.

Murray is a doctor at the University of Minnesota, specializing in child behavior and development. She only had paperwork scheduled on donation day, so she figured she could give blood at 8 a.m. and work from home. Other donors bring laptops or work, but she enjoyed sitting calmly without screens.

“You can do a lot of good without a lot of effort,” she said.

A tube from her right arm fed blood to an apheresis machine, which filtered her red blood cells into two packages.

Blood drives at businesses and community events used to fuel the blood center’s collection efforts, but that changed after the COVID-19 pandemic when people didn’t return to their workplaces as much. Appointments by volunteers such as Murray now make up most donations, and they become more important over the holidays — when donations decline 30% because people are traveling or busy.

HCMC is a trauma center and one of the Memorial Blood Center’s top customers. It needs whole, unfiltered blood to treat accident and injury victims as well as condensed units of red blood like Murray’s donation.

The hospital tries to keep 170 red blood units in stock, with as many as possible being type O because they can be given to more patients than types A, B or AB. Blood types also are sorted as positive or negative by whether they contain an Rh protein that can trigger the immune system. People with Rh-negative blood must receive the same kind.

In emergencies, doctors don’t always have time to check if patients have O or other blood types, said Jessica Peters, supervisor of HCMC’s laboratory blood bank. “If you give them a different blood type and you are wrong, it can cause problems.”

Supplies of O negative were getting low on Dec. 14 when Price arrived at HCMC.

She had never undergone surgery but received numerous transfusions when her sickle cell disease triggered painful episodes. Managing the disease is tough, Price said, because she needs to stay fit. But, she said, she can’t “hit it at the gym” like others without triggering pain.

Price works as a direct support professional who helps people with mental disabilities carry out daily tasks. More strenuous jobs would be risky, triggering episodes that are like a lightning storm, she said.

“Can you imagine having pain like that? Pain that shoots across the body?” she said. “That’s the best way I can break it down.”

Imaging scans at HCMC discovered that her spleen, the organ that filters a person’s blood and helps fight infections, had swollen and was basically dead, Price said.

Dr. Derek Lumbard, a general surgeon at HCMC, said the condition is shockingly painful, even for sickle cell patients who are used to discomfort.

“This is a whole new level of pain,” he said, and it was hitting Price during her hospital stay.

Operating was essential, but Price’s blood disorder also made surgery risky. Studies have found more postoperative infections, heart failure and other problems in sickle-cell patients.

Price needed enough donor blood to dilute the concentration of sickle-shaped cells in her bloodstream to 30%. Lumbard said it was going to take 10 units of red blood.

Murray’s “double red” donation of two red blood units had been checked and rechecked by the time of Price’s transfusion.

The blood center’s product testing lab verified the blood type and ensured it contained no viruses, such as HIV or West Nile.

The blood was weighed to nsure each unit was around 450 milliliters in volume, indicating that it contained enough blood cells to be clinically useful, and held in cold storage. Murray’s blood was boxed along with other units HCMC requested on Nov. 27.

Lab technicians at HCMC then recorded the temperature of each unit. If kept cold, red blood cells are usable for 42 days after donation. A technician took a vial of Murray’s blood to verify its type, placing it in a test tube with a liquid that would produce a chemical reaction if the blood wasn’t O. The cloudy mixture in the tube was the desired result. The blood was labeled correctly.

“In all my years, I have never seen it not be right,” Peters said. “But ... you have to have a healthy level of fear in blood banks so you don’t get complacent.”

Murray’s donation was moved to a separate cold storage shelf for blood that had cleared testing and was placed on the left-hand side. It slid gradually to the right over the next few days as new units came in, a quick visual reminder of which units were getting closer to expiration.

The call to HCMC’s lab came Dec. 18. Price would need 10 units of red blood from nine donors, including Murray. Additional testing showed the donated blood lacked antigens that could trigger immune system reactions. It was ideal for Price. She received the transfusion the next day to clear out her sickle cells.

The surgery days later was tricky, and longer than planned. Price’s spleen had grown so large that it had started to fuse to the abdominal wall. But the procedure was successful, Lumbard said, and no complications followed.

Price went home to heal. She hasn’t yet returned to work, and she knows she can’t rush. She is grateful for her donors, and future donors, given the likelihood that she will need transfusions to combat sickle cell episodes. The disease is inherited and incurable.

“It really doesn’t matter what you are donating for. I appreciate whoever donates,” she said.

While 60% of the population is considered able to donate, only 3% does. The limited pipeline results in occasional shortages, but mostly hospitals report having blood when needed.

Murray said she will continue to donate every six months as long as tests indicate that her blood cell levels have bounced back from the prior donation.

“I’ve been doing it for, I can’t even remember how long,” she said.