‘It saves lives’: Montreal blood cancer survivor speaks on Héma-Québec donations ahead of annual celebrations

Héma-Québec will be hosting a ‘Recognition Soirée’ to honor the most generous blood donors in the Montreal area to celebrate and commemorate the impact of their generosity.

This annual heartfelt celebration held in Montreal expects 300 guests, including 27-year-old blood cancer survivor Kaylee Miller of the West Island who shares her story, on how blood donations gave her the strength to endure the treatment that ultimately saved her life.

“Really, if I didn’t get those blood transfusion I wouldn’t get the chemo, and if I didn’t get the chemo I wouldn’t be here to bounce back,” Miller said.

“For me, when I was needing the blood, I felt so incredibly fatigued and then after the fact all of a sudden I had more energy.”

Miller said she was diagnosed in 2021, after what she thought were initial symptoms of COVID-19, were actually signs of Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma (ALL). Within weeks she began chemotherapy and was put on steroids as her life was completely turned upside down.

Miller said she was in chemotherapy for two years total, with November 30th being exactly one year since she finished treatment. Due to a fever, her blood count was dangerously low and she was sent immediately to the emergency room where she was given blood for the very first time.

“It felt like I was a zombie beforehand, and then after I received the blood transfusion, I kind of felt like a person again,” Miller said.

ALL is a type of leukemia, with leukemia being the fifth most common cancer in Canada. In 2019 there were 440 Canadians who were diagnosed with this disease.

The event recognizes over 1700 donors, 700 of which are from the greater Montreal area from Boucherville, Laval, and Montreal.

Marc-Antoine Turcotte of Héma-Québec says many donors will sometimes never meet the recipients, which makes this event unique as some donors give up to 300 times in their lifetime. 

“Most of these donors have been donating since they were young and Héma-Québec has been existing 26 years now, and some of them have started even before we were there,” Turcotte said.

Each year Quebecers donate blood, plasma, platelets, rare blood, stem cells and breast milk. He says there were 175,000 donors across the province last year, though only three per cent of the population donate blood.

“In Quebec, someone needs blood every 80 seconds, so Héma-Québec needs to gather about a thousand donations every day to make sure that we can sustain the demand from the hospitals and all of this.” 

Turcotte, who lost his father to cancer, says he feels a special bond when donating, saying he realizes how far this resource goes for Quebecers battling cancer.

“It’s so important, it saves lives,” Miller said. “Giving blood was not on my radar before I needed it and I don’t think it’s on most people’s radar, because it’s not something that most people think about.”

“[But] for those that need it, they need it,” she exclaimed.

Miller said one of the hardest things she found was watching her body deteriorate so quickly, saying she worked so hard to keep it in shape and fit. Thanks to the blood transfusions, she was able to bounce back and continue on her road to recovery.

“Please give blood, please do it, please talk to your friends and your family about giving blood,” she said. “What might feel like something that’s really not that big of a deal is such a big deal.”

“Please at least consider it.”