blood transfusion related HCV

She couldn't tell you because she didn't know ? Just curious.

Keep up the good work.

Candace had a catastrophic illness when she was 2 years old.  I had a normal walking and talking 2 year old.  When she came out of the hospital 28 days later i had a 2 year old that never walked or talked again.  So she couldnt tell me what was wrong or what she was feeling..  I was looking at some of the numbers and 1 recall of plasma was for  4211 units that the donor suitability was not adequately determined.  I dont know what that means but I am sure that I wouldnt want to get one of those units. If you are interested when I get the numbers  together for the month of December I will post it for you.  Maybe that would be a good idea.  What do you think?

I'd be very interested in knowing.  It would make a heck of  a 60 minutes episode.  The general assumption of the general public is the blood supply is safe.  The truth should be known.

I'm very sorry for what Candace had to go through.

Thank you for your kindness for Candace.  I dont know if you read all my posts but that pretty much explains everything about Candace. I can only imagine the torment she went through all those years.  This is the letter that I sent to  

The Republican Delegation of South Carolina
The Honorable Congressman Joe Wilson
The Honorable Senator Jim DeMint
The Honorable Senator Lindsay Graham


CC.  The American National Red Cross

My name is Shirley Deloach.  I am a lifelong resident of South Carolina.  I am one of your constituents.  I have a driving concern in my life, the safety of America’s blood supply and the gross profits made by those who fail to change their practices. I have called each and everyone of you with a concern about the blood supply.  I have requested a meeting with each of you.  You have failed to appreciate the depth of my concern.  

In the last week of August and the first week of September 1989, my healthy, normal, beautiful 2-year old daughter Candace Catherine Marie DeLoach, suffered a catastrophic illness.  We rushed from our rural home in South Carolina to the trauma unit in Savannah, Georgia. In her treatment, she received several units of blood products.  When the Doctor came to us with the consent form, we were warned about the possibility of HIV.  We were also told that the blood supply was safe.  So we gave our permission for the transfusion.  She received a unit that was contaminated with HCV.  The American Red Cross knew they had a problem with HCV contamination as early as 1990 and discussed doing a "lookback" to determine who these patients were and to notify them.  They did not do it because it was not "cost effective".  They were finally forced to notify these patients by the FDA.

I was notified THIRTEEN YEARS later.  I had Candace and everybody in my family that had close contact with her tested for HCV.  Candace did, indeed, have HCV.   By that time, my daughter, Candace Catherine Marie DeLoach, was too medically fragile to take the treatment.  Because of her original ailment and its sudden onset, Candace was not able to communicate with me or her doctors.  She was not able to tell us that the medication being given to her in hopes of restoring speech or cognitive function could not have possibly worked because of the disease wrecking her system and brought to her by contaminated blood.  As troubling as this, she could not communicate her suffering.  She died  on January 11, 2004.

I sued the American Red Cross.  I was never able to place the practices of the American Red Cross before a jury because I was thrown out of court.  The Court ordered that South Carolina’s tolling statute and Georgia’s statute of limitations worked together to make my case untimely.  I was never interested in settlement.  My primary objective was and is to make the blood supply save for every child like Candace that had to have blood products.   I wanted a jury trial in the hopes that it would make the American Red Cross change there practices.  As a result of the legal technicality, the Red Cross was able to avoid taking responsibility for what they did to Candace.  I never even received an apology.  Even more troubling, the Red Cross continues the same practices  today.

The  American Red Cross failed Candace by the callousness of profit operated under a shroud of benevolence.  Blood is the Red Cross’s  CASH COW and they are going to do everything they can to protect it.  They take blood that is contaminated and then later recall it.  By the time the recall has been issued, the blood products have already  been distributed.  They are paid for each unit they sell.   One pint of blood that is given by a donor is broken down into Red Blood Cells, Plasma and Platelets plus approximately 5 other products that the medical community uses. The FDA has fined The American Red Cross more than any other organization in the United States.  They have paid over $30,000,000.  The money they have spent in fines could have improved there processes.  Why should they change their practices when, they get paid for a unit of blood that is donated,  8 different times?

Blood products are distributed every day with HIV, HCV, vCJD, syphilis and various other diseases.  Blood is taken every single day from donors who have previously been identified as unsuitable.  They take blood from people without determining their suitability,  that have traveled to an area endemic for malaria.  There are millions of units of blood products that are bought and sold every day by the American Red Cross.  You as my  Congressional Delegation should not be allowed to donate blood because of all the travel you do at the taxpayer's expense.  

It is a sad day for the citizens of South Carolina, that we have elected officials that help make the laws that govern us and effect our children's lives, that do not have time for us.  I have spoken with each of your offices, both in South Carolina and Washington.  The response I have been given was the same with each of you.  We are aware of your concerns but would not give me an appointment with you.

I waited for 2 hours to speak with Congressman Wilson at a local festival in Allendale, SC where he was campaigning.  When I finally spoke to him for "2 seconds",  he gave me a card and told me to call his office on Monday for an appointment.  I called several times Monday and then finally on Tuesday, I was told by his Chief of Staff for the state of SC "You spoke with the Congressman on Saturday, and that is all you are going to talk to him.  You will not get an appointment to speak to him."

The day will come, if it hasn't already, that someone you love will have to have a unit of blood products.  I don't know many families that don't face that dilemma at some point in time.  When that time comes, I want you and everyone else that was on the wrong side of this issue to  remember one name--Candace Catherine Marie DeLoach.  I hope that name haunts you everyday.  I will not be far behind that name.  I will not go quietly away like you want me to do.  I will not forget what was done to Candace.   She was failed by the American Red Cross, by the Judicial System, and by you the Legislative Delegation.

I cannot allow my daughter to have suffered in vain.  I again, ask that you use your influence to help me change a broken system.