A Birthday Blood Donation Tradition

Eilish Cumbo celebrates her 30th birthday by
making her 56th blood donation

“Happy birthday to you...” is a tune we expect to hear at a family gathering, in an elementary school classroom or even at a restaurant. But at a blood donation center? 

Buffalo resident, Eilish Cumbo, recently flipped the script on the traditional birthday celebration. The Western New York Red Cross board member and regular blood donor is so dedicated, she scheduled her 56th blood donation – putting her at the 7 gallon mark – to take place on her 30th birthday as a special way to mark both major milestones.

She shares that growing up, both of her parents were regular blood donors.  Eilish can remember tagging along to their blood donation appointments. While there, the canteen volunteer would tell Eilish and her siblings they could have a cookie, but only if they promised to donate blood when they got older. She made good on her promise and started donating blood at the age of 16, and hasn’t stopped yet.

While there isn’t a specific story or occurrence tied to why she gives, she says, “I know someone out there needs it, and that is enough of a reason for me.” That person could be a trauma patient, someone fighting cancer, an organ transplant recipient or a sickle cell warrior. Eilish has type O- blood, so she knows her donation is especially important to helping patients in emergency situations.  A busy full-time job, completing (multiple!) advanced degrees, and even a global pandemic couldn’t pause Eilish’s commitment to giving lifesaving blood.

“Knowing that I am doing something small - and very easy - to help others is what motivates me to

WNY Chapter Board Member, Eilish Cumbo,
has donated seven gallons of blood so far

donate, and what led me to join the Board of Directors for the WNY American Red Cross so that I can make an even greater impact on the community,” she explained. “Every blood donation can help save up to three lives, so that is 168 people that may have been helped by my small action. Not a bad impact for fulfilling that promise to get a cookie.”

Want to start a new birthday tradition of your own? The American Red Cross urges healthy individuals to give blood or platelets for patients battling disease and facing the unexpected. Each day, the American Red Cross needs to collect nearly 13,000 blood donations and more than 2,600 platelet donations to meet the needs of patients at about 2,500 hospitals and transfusion centers across the country. If you are feeling well, please make an appointment to give by using the Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or enabling the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device.

Story and Photos by: Katie Potter, American Red Cross
External Communications Manager

COVID-19 Drives Board Member to Donate Blood After 30-Year Hiatus

WNY Chapter Board Member, Mark Meyerhofer,
donating blood at the Union Road Donation Center
in Cheektowaga in June 2020

Mark Meyerhofer, a Board Member with the American Red Cross, Western New York Chapter, donated blood last month for the first time since he was in high school. He was understandably hesitant throughout the years after fainting the last time around. Now, just over 30 years later, he decided to give it another shot. 

The Red Cross has an urgent need for blood donations to prevent another blood shortage as hospitals resume surgical procedures and patient treatments that were temporarily paused earlier this spring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Blood drives continue to be canceled as many businesses and community organizations remain closed, but locations still welcoming donors are taking extensive precautions to help minimize the possibility of exposure and keep donors safe. In other words, there is no better time than now to take action, and Meyerhofer answered the call. 

“Right away, they put you at ease,” said Meyerhofer. “The door is locked when you arrive, someone comes out to escort you, they check your temperature at the door and again when you are doing your screening. They went above and beyond and I want to stress that.”

Each Red Cross blood drive and donation center follows the highest standards of safety and infection control. To ensure the health of staff and donors, precautions include:

• Checking temperatures of staff and donors before entering a drive to make sure they are healthy. 
• Providing hand sanitizer for use before entering the drives, as well as throughout the donation process.
• Following social distancing between donors including entry, donation and refreshment areas.
• Ensuring face masks or coverings are worn by both staff and donors.
• Routinely disinfecting surfaces, equipment and donor-touched areas.

While tens of thousands of donors gave blood in response to an initial blood shortage caused by this coronavirus outbreak, it’s important to remember that red blood cells must be transfused within 42 days of donation and platelets within just five days, so they must constantly be replenished.

In retrospect, Meyerhofer decided to donate at the perfect time. 

“By the time I went to donate, we were at the point of elective surgeries restarting and of course you need blood supply for that,” said Meyerhofer. 

And this time, things went much smoother as his fears of fainting subsided. 

“I am happy to do it, and it was a good experience. I already signed up for my next appointment in August!”

Meyerhofer has held a position on the Red Cross WNY Chapter Board since the fall of 2019. He currently works at Charter Communications in Buffalo, NY as the director of government relations. He began collaborating with the Red Cross when Charter Communications sponsored the Red Cross’ annual Sound the Alarm event in early 2018.

Meyerhofer’s reasons for accepting the board position and donating again go beyond the ramifications of COVID-19. Supporting those who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces has always been part of the mission of the Red Cross, and that resonated with Meyerhofer. 

“My father, who passed away almost a year ago, served in the Korean War and he had always talked about his affinity for the Red Cross because they had helped him when he was deployed and needed to get back home to his father who had fallen ill,” said Meyerhofer. “My dad had said all of his life that he would continue to give to the Red Cross until his dying days in return for what they did for him. It was always near and dear to him, therefore there had always been that personal connection for me.”

Meyerhofer encourages anyone who is considering donating, or like himself, has not donated in a long time, to start the conversation and hear others’ experiences. 

“It’s about finding a way to help out and give back,” said Meyerhofer. “I love that you are able to track exactly where your blood goes through the app, it makes it even more rewarding.”

You can download the Red Cross Blood Donor App today and schedule an appointment. As a humanitarian organization, we are committed to helping others in meaningful ways during this pandemic. The Red Cross is testing all blood, platelet and plasma donations for COVID-19 antibodies to provide donors insight into whether they may have been exposed to this coronavirus. To learn more, visit www.redcrossblood.org.

Story by: Nicole Mauro, American Red Cross

Communications Volunteer

“God kept me here for a reason.” Rochester Board Member supports her Puerto Rico home

“I wish I could be there.”

Under normal circumstances, Rose Mary Villarrubia Izzo would be in Puerto Rico right now, helping friends and family devastated by Hurricane Maria. However, this past year has been anything but normal for the long-time Red Cross volunteer and Greater Rochester Chapter Board member.

Rose Mary Villarrubia Izzo (r) with MGO Lorraine Clements
at the Greater Rochester Chapter Volunteer Salute in October
(Photo by: Tony Zollo, American Red Cross)

“I went to the doctor because I had a migraine,” she says. “The CT scan said I had a tiny aneurysm. The doctor sent me to a neurologist, who sent me to a neurosurgeon. They discovered I had a Size 6 aneurysm. They told me they start rupturing at Size 4, and they had to operate immediately.”

Rose Mary was hesitant to do the surgery. She was told she had only a 50/50 chance of surviving, and even if she did, she may not be able to walk or talk, and could lose her memory.

“I walked out of the doctor’s office in total devastation,” she says. “But they told me if I didn’t have the surgery, I had a 100% chance of dying.”

So, Rose Mary underwent the brain surgery, followed by several long, difficult months of recuperation. Despite being under doctor’s order to stay as stress-free as possible, Villarrubia Izzo, who has been a part of disaster relief operations including Hurricanes Hugo and George during her 32 years with the Red Cross, worried about her nieces and nephews in Texas after Hurricane Harvey, and her in-laws in Florida as Hurricane Irma made landfall. Then, Hurricane Maria absolutely devastated her birthplace, Puerto Rico, where much of her family still lives.

“Every time I looked at videos, my heart stopped,” she says. “I kept waiting to see if any family members would pop up in the news. One of my cousins found a fish on the top of their house! They lost everything.”

Rose Mary moved with her parents to Rochester when she was five years old, but spent summers and holidays with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in Puerto Rico, and her parents moved back after 18 years.

“Dad wanted to stay in Puerto Rico during this devastation and keep an eye on the house,” she said.  Her parents are in their 80s, and she knew that they couldn’t stay in an area with no power, potable water, or functional hospitals after Maria. Rose Mary worked to get them to join her in Rochester. After flights were cancelled six times, she arranged a relief flight, and they arrived safe two weeks ago and are now staying with her daughter. However, Rose Mary felt she needed to do more to help her homeland.

Rose Mary Villarrubia Izzo (3rd from left, red dress) was
instrumental in helping raise over $100,000 to support Maria
relief efforts during a telethon on September 25

“God kept me here for a reason,” says the deeply religious Villarrubia Izzo. After being convinced

that her medical condition made it impossible for her to go to Puerto Rico herself, Rose Mary began to use connections formed through 30 years with the Rochester City School District and the City of Rochester to help raise financial support for the Red Cross relief operations. She was instrumental in the raising of over $100,000 during a telethon on September 25, and helped ensure that proceeds from the City of Rochester’s ROC Relief event a week later also supported the Red Cross efforts. She represented the Red Cross during a concert at the Diplomat Banquet Center that raised over $5,000, and is currently working on another event with Country/Rock music group, “Stanby”, which will be held on November 26 at Three Heads Brewery, with all proceeds going to the Red Cross.

“I feel very proud that I’m capable health-wise to do it,” Rose Mary said. “I’m sad that I can’t go, but at least I can help from here. That’s why God kept me here. I know I can make a difference.”

Rose Mary started with the Red Cross 32 years ago through the Youth Leadership Program, which she is still involved with today. She says that the only way to truly understand all that she’s seen the Red Cross do for the community is to become a part of it yourself.

“If you can make a difference in someone’s life, you need to do it,” she says. “The purpose of helping pulled me out of a lot of depression, and I’m so happy to be here to do it.”

-Jay Bonafede, American Red Cross

CNY Board Members Lead by Example

“This is a great program. I can’t believe your phone isn’t ringing off the hook!”

Monroe Grassi of Canastota, NY was thrilled to learn that the American Red Cross could install free smoke alarms in his home. As soon as he and his wife Patricia learned about the Home Fire Campaign from the Madison County Office for the Aging, they began to spread the word.

“No charge, that’s a real plus when you’re on a fixed income,” Grassi said.

CNY Board Member Rob Just installs a smoke alarm in
Frank Stech's Cazenovia, NY Home

Three of the volunteers who visited the Grassis and two other Madison County families on Friday, July 31 to install smoke alarms and provide fire safety information normally support the Red Cross in another way. Joanna Ferguson, Rob Just and Renae Rokicki are members of Central New York Chapter’s Board of Directors.

“The Campaign was presented to us at a Board meeting, and it sounded neat,” said Just. “This is a great service for homeowners. I took the day off to do this!”

“As Board members, we don’t always have the opportunity to provide service at ground level,” added Rokicki. On Friday, she and Ferguson helped families put together an escape plan, while Just and AmeriCorps member Casey Pfeiffer installed the smoke alarms.

CNY Board members Renae Rokicki (l) and Joanna Ferguson
put on Red Cross vests and helped Monroe and Patricia Grassi
of Canastota, NY put together an escape plan

“This is a good way for people in the community to give back,” said Ferguson. “As Board members, we wanted to educate ourselves, be able to understand the impact the Red Cross has in the community.”  

Frank Stech had first-hand experience with how important the work of our volunteers can be. While Just and Pfeiffer were installing new smoke alarms in his Cazenovia home, Stech remembered when his neighbors lost their home to a fire when he was growing up in the ‘60s.

“The Red Cross was there, first on the scene to help those nine kids and their mother,” he said. “I know the importance of this. I wasn’t as interested in the free alarms as I was in learning where we should put them.”

Through education and ensuring homes have working smoke alarms, the Home Fire Campaign aims to reduce fire related deaths and injuries across the country by 25% over the next five years. Contact your local Chapter for more information or to schedule an appointment (in Central New York, email smokealarms.cny@redcross.org or call 315-234-2299). The volunteers that come to your door just may be Red Cross Board members, like Rob Just.

“This has been a lot of fun. I definitely want to do it again!”