NORTHVILLE, Mich. – Five times a year, for the past twelve years, Tom and Sue Saydak of Northville, Mich., have coordinated the Red Cross blood drive at their church.
It's an event they say they look forward to each time, but it has new meaning now.
It all changed when Tom Saydak made a routine visit to his doctor’s office. He needed to pick up a refill for his blood pressure medication. The office was busy, but something Saydak said stopped his doctor in his tracks.
“He says, ‘How ya doing Tom?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m doing really good, although, when I ride my bike or I try to walk around the sub, the sun really bothers me. It’s just not bothering me, it’s painful.’”
His doctor, Ross Summers at the Northville Medical Clinic, insisted on getting a blood sample.
When Saydak told him his insurance wouldn’t cover it because he had recently had a physical, Summers said if the insurance wouldn’t pay for it, he would.
“He comes back with a worried look on his face. He says, ‘Something is wrong with our machine or process or something. I need another one,’” remembered Saydak. “Then he comes back with a very worried look on his face. He puts a surgical mask on my face. He’s starting to sterilize my hands. He says, ‘Something is terribly wrong with your blood.’”
Saydak was sent to the emergency room and admitted to the hospital.
The nurse comes in and she says, ‘I have a pint of blood for you.’ I said, ‘No no, I work for the Red Cross. I get blood for other people, not me.’"
A bone marrow biopsy revealed the stunning diagnosis.
They said, ‘You have APL leukemia, acute promyelocytic leukemia,’" said Saydak.
“Is he gonna make it? That’s really what went through my head,” said Sue Saydak, Tom’s wife.
Tom Saydak would spend the next 52 days in the hospital, receiving oral and IV chemo at the University of Michigan.
He also needed blood.
“Six pints of blood and four pints of platelets that they gave me,” said Saydak. “Every time I got a pint of blood, I would say a little pray for the person that donated the blood.”
At the hospital, he witnessed the impact of blood shortages.
“I would hear people, the nurses, say, ‘We have three patients that need blood, but we only have two pints of blood. So get a hold of the doctors and see which two need it more than the other one. The other one is going to have to wait,’” remembered Saydak.
Saydak is done with chemo and doing great. He’s back to spending time with his three grandsons, time he doesn’t take for granted.
"I’m just grateful that I’m here today,' said Saydak.
In addition to coordinating the church blood drives, Tom and Sue Saydak were also regular blood donors. Sue has given an impressive 135 pints and counting, but she and Tom have different blood types, so she’s grateful for all of the people who have donated to him.
“The blood drives really became personal,” said Sue Saydak. “It just made it so much more important to you know get the message out that people really do need blood.”
“When they were short a pint, maybe if somebody would have came in and said, 'I’ll sit another five, ten minutes and give blood, they would have had an extra pint of blood,” said Tom Saydak.
“You never know what tomorrow is going to bring, and so that’s why it’s so important that if you are able to go out and give blood,” said Sue Saydak.
Due to the critical need for blood donors of all blood types and platelet donors, the American Red Cross is partnering with Auburn Hills-based business Gardner-White for a large-scale blood drive Thursday across Metro Detroit. More information can be found here.
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