The American Red Cross and Valparaiso American Legion are having a blood drive from 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Aug. 11 in honor of Jaslyn Parker, daughter of Jason and Tiffany Parker of Chesterton, who is alive because of blood she received from donors. The American Legion is offering a pancake breakfast to all who donate blood at this drive.

“We want people to know about Jaslyn (pronounced Jayce-lynn) so that people realize their donation means people can be saved,” said Tiffany, who contacted the Red Cross.

“Jaslyn will celebrate her first birthday on Aug. 8 and she was never supposed to be home in our arms,” said Tiffany.

“Jaslyn was born with a Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) CDH occurs in approximately one in 2,500 births and the survival rates are not the best. At birth, her stomach, liver, spleen, small and large intestines were in her chest compromising her delicate lungs. She has approximately 3/4 of a lung on the right side and merely a bud on the left. She was diagnosed around 33 weeks gestation.

“At that time our lives changed forever. We were told our daughter would likely never make it home with us. During our journey, we were faced with decisions no parent should have to make. Day-in and day-out we stared at our daughter’s lifeless body - some days unable to even touch her, let alone hold her hand. But we were blessed with wonderful medical staffs and much more.

Jaslyn’s journey has been a very long one with many ups and downs. Surgeries, life support and blood transfusions became a daily part of our life. When Jaslyn was six days old, she went on a machine called ECMO (Extra Corpreal Membrane Oxygenation). Basically, it is a last resort heart lung bypass machine for infants. The lines of this machine are primed with two liters of donated blood - donated blood that saved our daughter’s life. On several other occasions she also received donated blood.

“So, now in honor of our precious baby girl’s first birthday, we want to give back. On Saturday, Aug. 11, with the help of the Red Cross and the American Legion in Valparaiso, we are holding a blood drive in her honor. The American Legion has also graciously offered a pancake breakfast to all who donate!

“In addition, we will be accepting donations to benefit the NICU’s that helped our daughter and many others.

“Today, Jaslyn does so many things that we were told she never would be able to do. With one lung our baby girl crawls, laughs, pulls herself to stand and brightens our world. She truly is a miracle. Please help us to help others. I’m not asking for much. I want people to hear Jaslyn’s story. We can never repay those who gave our daughter blood. But hopefully, we can do for another family what they did for ours.”

Posted 8/6/2007