Heart recipient's climb up El Capitan highlights Fresno State blood drive

By Donna Taketa
The Collegian

Kelly Perkins has climbed some of the most challenging mountains in the world, including Mt. Whitney, Mt. Fuji, Mt. Kilimanjaro and the Matterhorn. She has done this after undergoing heart transplant surgery.

Since receiving her new heart almost 10 years ago, Perkins and her husband, Craig Perkins, have garnered worldwide attention by scaling some of the world’s most formidable mountains. They do it in an effort to raise awareness of the need for blood and organ donations.

“It’s about active participation and setting an example of what can be done,” Perkins said.

She said she also wants people to see how her life has changed following the transplant and how donors really do make a difference.

A blood drive at Fresno State takes place today and Thursday at the University Student Union from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Fresno State President John Welty will be donating blood this morning.

Perkins and her husband are now on the third day of their climb up El Capitan in the Yosemite Valley.

During the Perkins’ five-day climb, Fresno-area blood centers are using the publicity to boost blood donation participation.

The Perkins said donors are needed year-round, not just for national emergencies. They said their climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania occurred right after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Their Australian climb took place after the recent Asian tsunami.

“I told Kelly we can’t make any more climbs,” Craig said. “It just seems coincidental, but in reality emergencies are happening all time.”

The Perkins’ current climb and the Fresno State blood drive coincide with the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast states.

In the aftermath of the destruction caused by the hurricane, the need for blood, organs, and tissue will escalate.

“The need doesn’t develop right away, but is going to happen in the next weeks as their supplies decrease,” said Dean Eller, president and CEO of the Central California Blood Center. “They’ll rely on outside donations because no one there can give.”

The city of Fresno requires 250 units of blood a day, and Eller said the city of New Orleans is slightly larger. In the past, campus blood drives have raised as much as 500 units of blood, Eller said.

“The turnout is absolutely phenomenal,” Eller said about Fresno State participation. “Time after time students rise to the challenge.”

Blood only lasts 42 days from the day of donation, which is why regular donations are needed.

“Once in a lifetime isn’t enough,” Craig said. “Blood expires just like milk.”

The Perkins agree that starting to donate at the college age is important.

“It’s good to start a pattern at a young age,” Craig said. “It’s like installing savings; if you start young you discipline yourself for the future.”

Kelly Perkins said college students are generally healthy and active, and therefore ideal donors. She said involvement will also subject people to the realities of organ donations.

“Organ and blood donations can often be out of sight, out of mind,” Perkins said. “Young people oftentimes feel indestructible. The reality is they are destructible.”

Everyday 17 Americans die waiting for a transplant, which is one of the many reasons Perkins feels so fortunate.

“You have to realize this can happen to anyone,” Perkins said about her own heart illness. “You can’t take precautions.”

Perkins received a heart transplant three years after she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a virus that infects the heart. Across the United States over 89,000 people are on the waiting list for organs, the Central California Blood Center said.

Blood drive participation at Fresno State has grown tremendously in recent years, Eller said. Drives are now held twice a semester, where previously they were held once a year.

“Students have become pumped up about it,” Eller said.

She said on average 500 students donate in the two days, up from 30 to 40 people a day in years before.