West View Firefighter Needs Blood; Drive Set For July 9 at Fireman's Hall

West View firefighter William Cummings had been having health problems for several months before the doctors could finally diagnose him. What he found out in January was grim – his stomach was lined with hyperplastic gastric polyps, and he required a new liver.

“Where these polyps grow in your stomach they bleed internally,” said his wife, Donna Cummings. “They do an endoscopy every six to eight weeks down through the mouth into his stomach [to check the polyps].”

Since then, he has needed blood transfusions every few weeks just to keep him alive.

“Your blood counts are supposed to be above 14,” said Donna Cummings. “We’re happy if we keep him at 10. If it gets down to 8.2 then they have to transfuse.”

This year alone, Cummings has gone through eight pints of blood. It is estimated he has used about 16 to 20 pints of blood since the onset of his diagnosis. When he finally receives a new liver, he will need even more blood, about 30 pints during the surgery.

This drain on the supply of blood from the Central Blood Bank and the concern for the health of their friend have prompted sister-in-law Jackie Hollenberger and co-worker Randy Schubert to organize a replenishment drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 9 at the West View Fireman’s Banquet Hall. Those interested in pre-registering can log on to the blood bank's website at www.centralbloodbank.org and use the sponsor code ZRTN0821.

“The blood drive is to replenish the blood he’s already used and will be using in the course of his illness,” Hollenberger said.

Cummings, 58, has been a firefigher for 40 years, but he cannot work due to his illness.

“Every time there’s an alarm my heart starts beating and I can’t do anything,” he said. “I just look out the window and watch the fire trucks go out.”

He is not allowed to drive and is on disability.

“You can’t do nothing; it’s boring,” he said. “The only time I get to leave the house is when I go to the hospital. [I] play it day by day.”

Schubert went to school with Cummings and considers him a good friend. They are members of the same fire department.

“It’s terrible,” said Schubert about Cummings’ illness. “Anybody that has to go through a possible liver transplant, it’s kind of dramatic.”

Cummings might have to wait two to three years for a liver transplant, depending on the seriousness of his condition. Transplant recipients are rated on a scale from 6 to 40, with 40 being the worst condition. Right now, Cummings is a 12, but doctors have warned him that this rating could plummet to a 25 in the period of a week.

“We spend a lot of time running to doctors and hospitals for blood tests,” said Donna Cummings. “It’s been a rough six months because he can’t do too much. It’s all put on me, but that’s OK; we do what we have to do. ”

Though the liver transplant might not be for a while, Hollenberger wants to do all she can to help right now. The blood drive is one way to ensure that some of the blood Cummings uses will be restored and also a way of relieving guilt for using so much.

“We’re putting out the fliers and getting the information out,” Hollenberger said. “[We are] trying to do as much as we can to get as many people there as possible. We encourage people to sign up ahead of time so we know how many people we need from the blood bank down there.”