Kinnelon's Nikki Ramsden Needs Blood & Platelets

Blood & Platelet Donors Needed for Nicole Ramsden.

This is Nicole - aka Nikki - Ramsden when she was 10. She is now 12 and has just had a relapse of her myeloid leukemia. Can you help?

She needs blood and platelets in anticipation of grueling rounds of chemotherapy. More specifically, she needs Type O (positive or negative) blood and A+, A-, AB+ or AB- platelets.

This site - Blood & Platelet Donor Information for Nicole R. [nikkirdonors] - shares the following information:

Nicole R. is in need of blood & platelet donors. Nicole has recently relapsed and will be undergoing chemotherapy once again. She will need more products than usual due to the type of treatment she will be receiving. We need donors more than ever before so please spread the word to help Nicole. Call Community Blood Services at 201-444-3900. Ask for Joan or Faye. You must specify that you are donating for Nicole R.

Two blood or platelet donation sites for Nicole Ramsden:

Lincoln Park Donor Site
63 Beaverbrook Road, Suite 304
Lincoln Park, NJ 07652

Paramus Donor Site
970 Linwood Avenue West
Paramus, NJ 07035

For any further information, contact Rosemary Colella via email RMC501@OPTONLINE.NET or leave a message at 973-633-1858 [your call will be returned after 4pm EST].

I don't personally know Nikki, but many do. I can't imagine what she and her family are going through. You can get a first hand perspective on it via Nikki's Blog. Her mom, Mary Ramsden, writes many of the entries and takes you through her emotional roller coaster ride - from anguish to joy and back again - as the Ramsden family lives through Nicole's ordeal and what no child should have to experience.

[The site also lists other ways of helping out. Coming up on January 29th, 2010 is an Annual Beefsteak Dinner Fund Raiser to benefit the Ramsden family.]

Can You Help Nikki Ramsden?

If you have the right blood type that Nicole needs, would you consider donating blood? If so, you have the information above.

Regardless of your blood type, would you please forward this message about Nicole Ramsden to as many people as you know in the Northern New Jersey area? And, whether they can or can't donate, please ask them to forward to other people they know.

Thank you.

Note: the photo above comes from an online article written when Nicole first got sick: Wayne parish reaches out to family of 10-year-old girl undergoing cancer treatment.

[I also located this article about July 2009 Kinnelon Cares Kinnelon 5K Run proceeds benefitted Nicole.]