Blood drive at Madison Comprehensive High School in London Hamilton's honor, huge success
One hundred and thirty-eight people signed up for the American Red Cross blood drive in London Hamilton’s honor Thursday at Madison Comprehensive High School gymnasium.
The National Honor Society at Madison Comprehensive High School sponsored the blood drive.
The Madison South Elementary School fourth-grader has been battling a rare bone cancer called Ewing sarcoma. She just finished undergoing chemotherapy and surgery to remove her cancer. She is now home but is expected to return to Akron Children's Hospital to ring the (cancer free) bell soon, her mother said.
London, 10, stopped by the blood drive after 11 a.m. in the high school gymnasium, seated in a wheelchair, surrounded by her mother Carley Hamilton, her grandmother, grandfather, an aunt and lots of supporters.
Madison schools bus driver Pam Hoffman came to see London and to give blood.
"I can't wait to see her get back on the school bus. I miss her a lot," she said.
London was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma in December 2022. Her tumor was wrapped around her right 11th rib.
Her mother Carley said London is all done with chemotherapy and had her last treatment at the end of January.
London has had a total of 64 blood transfusions, her mother said. London is struggling right now as chemo really weakened her immune system.
"This last hospital visit she had norovirus. She also developed a yeast infection in her blood stream," she said.
London will need to have therapy to be able to walk again.
"She's shown everybody how strong she is," her mother said.
London has been able to do schoolwork but not for the last few weeks when she hadn't felt good, her mother said. "If we're home, the teachers actually come to the house," Carley said.
She said her daughter's blood collections are down but she is cancer free.
Tracey Burden, a math teacher and National Honor Society advisor at the high school, was giving blood while on duty with the blood drive from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. Her NHS students were working the blood drive and registering people at the entrance to the gym.
It was the National Honor Society's third blood drive this year, the most recent was held in January.
"We normally do two drives each school year," Burden said.
"She's been in the hospital recently for 10 days and just got home this week. She's had 64 blood transfusions and there were times when she was in the hospital and needed the blood and it wasn't there and they had to wait on it," Burden said.
Rosemarie Simmons, account manager of the American Red Cross, thanked Burden and her students for their fabulous work with the blood drive.
"We have collected our lowest amount of blood in the past 20 years," Simmons said of the American Red Cross. "We need people to donate all the time. Even if every citizen would donate just one time a year that would help keep the blood supply. People don't realize like patients like London, they need a lot of units."
Simmons said the Madison schools' drive would net 100 units of blood.
The American Red Cross staff members were busy, as people came to give blood.
Harry Baker of Mansfield said while he didn't know London, he wanted to help her and so he came to the blood drive Thursday morning.
"The priest last night at Ash Wednesday service at St. Peter's Church said we should do nice things for people," he added.
Chloe Nelson, who is a senior at Madison Comprehensive High School, attending Ashland University in the College Credit Plus program and studying nursing, came to give blood in London's honor.
Nelson waited for her turn to talk to the Red Cross staff and learned soon after she was not able to give blood after all as she is anemic and did not meet the weight requirement. She said she would give blood another time.
Max Miller of Bucyrus of the Red Cross said the blood drive was busy and even had a few walk-ins.
London has been officially accepted to Make-A-Wish, her mother posted recently on Facebook. London wants to go to Hawaii like in the movie, "Moana," to swim with the dolphins and of course meet her favorite author Dav Pilkey.
lwhitmire@gannett.com
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: London Hamilton, 10, a fourth grader, battling a rare bone cancer
