Yoney promotes blood drive
Morgan Yoney
Morgan Yoney, 21, of Spraggs, recently bragged on Facebook that she’s going to be an aunt soon. Morgan, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a terminal disease, at nine months old, is waiting on her second double lung transplant.
For nearly two years, Morgan Yoney watched Greene County rally around her to show support while she waits for a double-lung transplant. Now, she wants to turn that support into blood donations for others in need.
“It’s been really humbling because people that don’t even know me have signs for me in their windows,” Yoney said. “Even the people I do know, everybody’s taking their time out to help me and see if I need anything. It’s overwhelming sometimes, but it makes me feel better to know I have so many people backing me.”
Morgan said she’s teaming up with Central Blood Bank of Pittsburgh to direct that support to blood drives. She said the blood bank reached out to her, because her name was being spread around. They asked if she would help them promote a series of blood drives in the area.
“I thought it was a really good idea because obviously there’s a need for blood,” she said.
Morgan had countless blood transfusions over the course of her life. As a baby, she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder in which the lungs and digestive system are clogged with mucus, often resulting in liver and lung transplants. She had both in 2010, when she was 15, but three years later, discovered her body was rejecting the lungs.
Morgan can’t give blood herself because of her condition, but she said promoting local drives is a way for her “to give back to the blood bank because I’ve taken blood from them.”
Morgan said she’s seen so much support from signs and “get well” cards to people offering to give her one of their own lungs, which she wouldn’t be able to take since her condition requires both lungs.
“Even if they can’t help me, I sometimes ask them to be an organ donor, because there’s someone else they might be able to help out,” she said.
She said people of any blood type who want to show support for her can go to any Central Blood Bank in the area and donate in the name of Morgan’s Army as a tribute.
Kristen Lane, marketing lead for Central Blood Bank, said the closest blood donation center to Greene County is at 95 W. Beau St., Washington. She said the nonprofit experiences blood shortages in the summer, which is why they need the drive. They also have a need for O positive and O negative blood.
“There are a lot of regular donors who go on vacation and people are busy this time of year,” she said. “In the fall and winter, we have certain routines and in the summer, we get out of those routines.”
Lane also said some of their biggest drives happen at high schools or college campuses, but in the summer, they cannot host those events.
She said they sought out Morgan to help promote the drives because of her hyper-awareness of the need.
“She understands firsthand the importance of donating blood,” Lane said. “Her name has been all over the place and so many people are compelled by her story. It was a miracle when she got the first set of lungs, but to need another double lung transplant – that is such a poignant situation.”
The drive in Morgan’s name started July 14 and will go through Aug. 14. The Central Blood Bank will also hold a mobile drive from noon to 6 p.m. Aug. 17 at Waynesburg Armory, 500 EverGreene Drive, Waynesburg.
Morgan said the community support helps her every day.
“We never thought I’d have to wait this long,” she said. “I feel like there’s so much positivity with the support that the positive outweighs the negative.”
Lately, Morgan has been in and out of the hospital. Her lungs are functioning at 18 percent and she’s only had 20 days since January without an IV. But she’s keeping her chin up.
“There are people in worse situations than me,” she said. “I get to be home with my family and a lot of people don’t have that. I try to get up and do things and I go outside and play with my dogs.”
To schedule an appointment to donate, call 866-366-6771 or visit centralbloodbank.org/MORGANSARMY. Donors should eat well, stay hydrated and arrive with proper identification. Blood donors must be at least 17 years old or 16 years old with parental consent.