The family of a baby fighting cancer got to thank 24 blood donors recently who helped save her life, the "Today" show reported.
Skye Savren-McCormick, now 2 years old, has needed blood transfusions for most of her life after being diagnosed with Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia, according to a fundraising website, YouCaring.com.
After her parents found a tiny red spots covering her skin, her pediatrician discovered her platelet count of 3,000, compared to a normal range between 150,000 and 400,000, "Today" reported.
"Without blood transfusions she wouldn't have made it," Talia Savren-McCormick, the girl's mother, told "Today." "We used to call it life in a bag. It definitely brought her back to life."
Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia is a rare type of blood cancer that occurs when bone marrow production of white blood cells becomes severely disregulated, according to the Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorder Center.
Children with the disease see their bone marrow produces immature white blood cells that grow too rapidly, crowding out healthy bone marrow cells and can lead to symptoms such as infections, anemia and bleeding, the center's website said.
As part of Skye's treatment for the dangerous disease, she needed frequent transfusions, "Today" said. She received 77 units from 71 different donors and now has been cancer free for nearly a year, the morning show said.
On Jan. 12, the family tearfully met and thanked 24 of those donors at the UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital, according to "Today" and the Ventura County Star.
"How do you thank someone for saving your child’s life?" Talia Savren-McCormick said at the event that recognizes UCLA donors, according to the Star. "There are no words."
One of the donors, Tim Brennan, 39, a smartphone app builder from Thousand Oaks, California, said he was moved by the mother's emotional thank you.
"I keep getting choked up and trying not to cry," Brennan told the Star, who added he had been donating blood for about six years. "It's mind-boggling."
The "Today" show said other donors included Ana Martinez, 33, who organizes blood donations at her office; Kazuhiro Ando, 66, who started donating after learning how much blood cancer patients are in need; and Matt Ruby, 20, a third-year UCLA student who has been donating blood since his first year of college.
"Going to one of these things makes you a platelet donor for life," Daniel Cantu, a neuroscience graduate student who attended the event but was not one of Skye’s donors, told the Star. "You see the impact."