Accident survivor excited to be Houchin's first high school spokesperson

Jan. 25—A little more than four years ago, Hallie Keese, a Liberty High junior, needed blood transfusion to survive an accident so traumatic it took her away from playing volleyball.

Now, Keese, 16, Houchin's first high school spokesperson, says she doesn't really talk about the accident when promoting Houchin and encouraging peers and others to donate blood.

"I like to focus more on Houchin's message about blood donation rather than focus on my accident," she said. "I just stay to the fact that I was a blood recipient and it affected my family in a positive way, and to have the blood donations readily available."

When Keese was 11 she competed on Bakersfield Volleyball Club's traveling team.

"I played a lot of volleyball at the time," she said.

Fear set in for Keese's father, Mike, and mother, Christy, when the accident happened to their youngest daughter, who is the second of three children.

"It was an accident that definitely was a life-threatening event, 100 percent in all aspects," the father said. "Without the knowledge and skills of the doctors and nurses at KMC (Kern Medical), Valley Children's and Stanford plus the generosity of the public to give blood and plasma and cryoprecipitate, if all those pawns weren't ready to get their game on that night Hallie was flown to KMC, the outcome could have been very different."

Mike Keese is also a spokesperson for Houchin this year. His daughter encourages youth to donate blood, while he spreads the message to adults and parents.

They both visited Houchin's blood bank and received a tour. Mike said he was shocked to see that the storage areas for blood were without many bags.

"I was expecting to see piles and piles of bags and units of blood," he said. "They had blood there but not as much as I thought would be there. It was an eye-opener."

He makes it a point to donate blood once every other month, as donors can donate blood once every eight weeks. He makes it a family event.

The past two times, Hallie was not able to donate blood because she said she initially didn't meet the weight requirement and the other time she was dehydrated.

There are blood drives taking place for high schoolers in Bakersfield and Kern County. Hallie wants to donate when the drive is scheduled at Liberty on Feb. 23, from 8:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The blood drive at Kern Valley High School on Feb. 22 is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the blood drive at Frazier Mountain High on May 4 is also open to the public from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Part of the reason Hallie was selected to be a spokesperson was because of her experience as a recipient and because of her knowledge that there is a shortage of blood for transfusions.

"Once I'm able to get cleared for donation, I'm going to do it 100 percent," she said. "It's going to be a regular thing."

In the meantime, she will continue to encourage others to donate blood, and avoid talking about her accident that happened five years ago. She has been interviewed by TV stations in Bakersfield.

She said she felt nervous before those interviews, but soon was at ease when she talked about how meaningful blood donations are to her.

Hallie also participates in Global Leadership Adventures, a high school study abroad program. She's been on two trips to Costa Rica and one to Hawaii, where she helped with sea turtle conservation.

She is considering studying earth science in college, a major that is among several she hasn't narrowed down yet.

With all the media interviews she's done, she has taken up an interest in journalism, too.

"Picking a major, I'm definitely all over the place," she said. "I kind of feel that people struggle to find a major that they're passionate about. I feel like I have too many. Every college I apply to I might do a different major and wherever I get in that will be my major."

Her older sister, Merrin, is an environmental engineering major at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and that is also a consideration for Hallie, who has a younger brother, Ryan, 13.

Hallie said she'll focus more on college next year. This year, it's all about making people aware of the need for blood donations in Kern County.

"Don't be worried about how long it will take to donate blood," she said. "Donating blood has a small time commitment and it has a really big impact. The blood shortage is a big issue right now. As a community we should put an importance on going in to donate blood and make it a routine thing that we do."