‘It’s true altruism and saves lives’: R.I. dad of 2-year-old with blood cancer speaks about donating blood amid national shortage

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CRANSTON, R.I. (WLNE) – We’ve all seen the dire calls for help in what the American Red Cross is calling the worst national blood shortage… in over a decade.

For some, it might just be another headline in the news. For others, like Troy Peck from Cranston, it’s a sentence that could further complicate his 2-year-old’s battle with a rare blood cancer, after she relapsed last week.

“I think the saying is something like everytime you donate a pint of blood you’ll be able to save 2-3 lives… and those people will live because of it,” Troy tearfully says.

In January of 2021 just days before his daughter Aspen’s first birthday, she was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer, called Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Immediatley Aspen started treatment through 120 days in the hospital with blood transfusions every 2-3 days.

“Without these transfusions, among many other things, she wouldn’t be with us right now,” Peck says.

Because of those transfusions, Aspen was stable enough to recieve a bone marrow transplant in April of 2021. For months after, her scans showed no sign of disease.

Just before Aspen’s second birthday, the cancer came back leaving the Peck’s with a worse prognosis than they had before.

“We’re at a post transplant relapse… and her chances of survival now go down even more,” Troy says.

The next course of treatment for Aspen has not yet been determined, but Troy says the one thing that is certain is the importance of donating blood.

“There is one degree of separation between us we all know somebody who knows somebody… who is impacted by this blood shortage… but especially in Rhode Island, it’s just so interconnected,” he says.

Over 1,300 people have contributed to a GoFundMe for Aspen and her family since her diagnosis.

To join the Be The Match registry, please click here. Being on the registry does not guaranteed you will be matched and it could take months or years to find out.

For more information on where you can find a local blood drive near you, click here.