ELKTON — Samantha Handy received two blood transfusions during her five-day hospital stay after giving birth to her daughter, Luci, on June 15.
Having suffered brain damage during birth, Luci also received blood transfusions — several of them — during the 25 days that the newborn spent at Christiana Hospital in Delaware.
Samantha and her husband, Shane Handy, both 36, and their 18-month-old daughter, LuLu, now have Luci with them at their Elkton home after Luci was discharged from the hospital on July 10.
The Handy family is grateful that the Blood Bank of Delmarva had enough O negative type blood for Samantha and enough O positive type blood for Luci.
And their gratitude is one of the reasons why the Handy family, with the assistance of Samantha’s friend, Brittany Lombardi, are holding a blood drive from noon to 6 p.m. on Friday at the MD Beer Company on North Bridge Street in Elkton.
“Thankfully, the Blood Bank of Delmarva had the blood we needed,” Samantha said.
The goal of Friday’s blood drive also is to raise awareness, according to Samantha.
As a patient simply taking a precaution, Samantha had asked doctors to make sure there would be an ample supply of her O negative type blood type at the hospital — before she was even aware that there was a serious problem, which occurred during child birth. Only 7% of the population has O negative type blood, according to the American Red Cross.
“Fortunately, they listened to me and had it on hand. You have to advocate for yourself. If I didn’t have that blood, it would have been the end for me,” Samantha said, before opining, “A lot of people don’t even know what blood type they have.”
Lombardi, an Elkton-area resident who works as a Coldwell Banker Chesapeake real estate agent, expressed relief that there was enough blood to help Samantha and Luci survive.
“They don’t need blood now, fortunately. So we are doing this blood drive in their name, to help others that might need blood in the future,” Lombardi explained.
Phlebotomists with the Blood Bank of Delmarva will draw blood from donors who show up during Friday’s six-hour-long event at MD Beer Company, where there also will be raffles. In addition, attendees can enjoy the hosting establishment’s food and craft beer.
For Samantha and Shane, this blood drive is their way of paying it forward. The couple is thinking of others, even though a rough road lies ahead for them in the wake of the severe medical complication.
“She was a typical, healthy baby until she was born. I experienced a uterine rupture during labor, and there was a lack of oxygen and blood flow for Luci,” Samantha explained.
As a result, Luci has Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), which is a type of brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain before or shortly after birth. It affects the central nervous system, and babies born with HIE could have neurological and, or, developmental problems.
“She has severe HIE that requires multiple doctor appointments a week,” said Samantha, who noted that Luci suffered seizures in the hospital and wasn’t expected to live past four days. “She looks like a normal baby now, but this is a brain injury. So we won’t know the extent of the damage until we reach the first-year developmental milestones — eating, sitting up, crawling and walking.”
Samantha and Shane are self-employed. Samantha, who is a photographer, owns SHPstudio in Elkton and Shane, a mechanic, owns Outlaw Diesel Performance, also in Elkton.
“We are both unable to work, and my husband is going to be shutting down his business to take care of Luci full-time, since she requires around-the-clock care with a Ngtube,” Samantha said.
An Ngtube (nasogastric tube) is a special tube that is inserted in a person’s nose, and it carries food and medicine to the stomach.
Samantha who, along with Shane, has had a crash course in HIE during the past six weeks, noted, “Unlike Delaware, Maryland doesn’t have home care or daycare to take care of a child with an Ngtube or her medical issue.”
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