Urgent Need For Fully-Recovered Coronavirus Patients To Donate Plasma For Treatment
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Plasma donations from fully-recovered coronavirus patients could be a new lifeline for the recently infected.
If you called Basil Binns a super hero, the family of Dr. Vladimir Laroche would fully agree.
Binns was diagnosed and has since recovered from the coronavirus, meaning his plasma could be used to try to save others.
He donated to a complete stranger.
"Once I talked to him, he was so receptive, so willing, something about connecting with him took away the stranger part," said Paul Laroche, Vladimir's brother.
Vladimir Laroche is battling the coronavirus. He took a turn for the worse and was put on a ventilator, which is when the family decided to try convalescent plasma therapy.
They put out an urgent call on social media. Binns got wind of it from a friend and donated the next day.
"I knew we it was a matter of time. We didn't have a lot of time because my brother's life was really hanging by a thread at that point," said Paul Laroche. "So we knew that it sort of like we're going to go from strangers to family members in two minutes."
"It definitely feels great. Any way that I can help to take a situation that is effecting so many people in this country and help even one person, just from me being infected, I think is a great thing," Binns said.
Paul Laroche told CBS4's Ted Scouten his brother is showing signs of improvement – his breathing is getting better.
"We were just barely trying to keep him alive last week and a week later he's already taking a few breaths on his own," he said. "That's the biggest deal for our family."
OneBlood and Memorial Healthcare System are working together to get donations.
"Right now, there is an urgent call for people who are eligible to donate COVID-19 convalescent plasma to please step forward," said Susan Forbes with OneBlood.
Binns hopes others will donate too – and looks forward to meeting Vladimir Laroche soon.
"I'm still praying that Vladimir has a full recovery," Binns said. "Somebody that I haven't met but I'm looking forward to seeing and spending some time with him."
Obviously, there's quite a need for plasma donations. If you have recovered from COVID-19 and want to donate, there's a process involved with in all this.
Donors must meet all of the required screening criteria for blood donation and the additional FDA criteria, which include:
- Prior diagnosis of COVID-19 documented by an FDA approved laboratory test
- Complete resolution of symptoms at least 14 days prior to donation and a documented negative COVID-19 FDA approved test OR
- Complete resolution of symptoms at least 28 days prior to donation
If a potential donor meets the identified criteria, they can fill out a OneBlood form online.
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