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Community Corner

Preschool Holds Blood Drive in Honor of Student

The blood donated Monday will replace that used to save Kelsey Macker, who contracted E. coli that developed into Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome.

One day Kelsey Macker was a bright, independent 3-year-old full of energy, and the next she was in UCLA’s pediatric intensive care unit fighting for her life.

“It literally happened overnight, and Kelsey didn’t really understand what was happening to her,” said Sue Carr, Kelsey’s grandmother.

Kelsey had contracted Escherichia coli (E. coli), which developed into Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, a disease that destroys red blood cells and affects the kidneys and other organs. She spent 30 days in the hospital receiving daily kidney dialysis and blood transfusions.

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“For three weeks it was very touch and go, but we’re a very positive family so we believed all along that she would recover,” Carr said. “And it was the power of medicine along with a miracle that brought this baby back to us.”

Kelsey has recovered and is back at her preschool at Community United Methodist Church. Once she returned, the preschool wanted to help the hospital that saved Kelsey, so it held a blood drive Monday.

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“What we’re doing is called a ‘needs drive,’ which means people aren’t donating blood specifically to Kelsey, but to replace the blood that she used so that the blood bank will always have a supply on hand,” said Peter Bovey, lab technician for UCLA Healthcare.

A steady stream of people showed up at the preschool auditorium to give blood, including Kelsey’s mother and grandmother and Janet Kim, the assistant director of Kelsey’s preschool.

“Kelsey’s back at school now and she’s doing great, so the blood drive is more for other people who will need it,” Kim said.

The students and teachers at the preschool were dismayed when they heard that Kelsey was in the hospital, she said.

“But we all just banded together. Everyone offered to help Kelsey’s family by doing everything they could,” Kim said.

When Kelsey was healthy enough to return to school, the staff planned to ease her back into her routine, but Kelsey had other plans,  Kim said.

“She came back and she acted like nothing had happened,” Kim said. “She just hit the ground running—she was so glad to be back.”

Courtney Macker, Kelsey’s mom, said she is very grateful to all the people who helped her family while Kelsey was sick and also to those who came to the blood drive.

“It’s a wonderful feeling. It just amazed me that people who don’t even know us would want to help,” she said.

Since word has spread about Kelsey’s ordeal and her amazing recovery, the little girl has become a bit of a celebrity around the community.

“People know her now when we walk down the street, and I don’t think Kelsey really understands why that is,” Macker said. “But she understands that she was really sick and in the hospital and that lots of people helped her.”

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