Turning Adversity into Advocacy

After battling a rare, auto-immune condition, blood recipient Bill Shanks is on a crusade for the Blood Bank of Hawaii

The health crisis that threatened Bill Shanks’ life came on suddenly in the summer of 2006.

“I experienced symptoms of severe fatigue that I thought were just a lingering virus,” said Bill, who visited his doctor after his health didn’t improve. “My doctor later phoned me at home and told me to sit down,” he recalls.

Test results showed that Bill’s blood lines were severely depressed. His white blood cell count hovered in the 2s, his hemoglobin leveled at 5.8, and his platelet count totaled 8,000. By comparison, the average count for white blood cells is 7.5; for hemoglobin, 16; and for platelets, 275,000.

Bill received his first blood transfusion the next day and immediately felt better. “It was as though I’d been to the spa,” he remembered with a chuckle. “I hadn’t felt that energized in a long time.”

But his test results weren’t as promising. Additional blood work and a bone marrow biopsy produced more startling results—his bone marrow was almost “empty,” with less than 10 percent of the normal amount of blood-forming stem cells. Bill required two units of red blood cells every two weeks and one unit of platelets every week, for four months.

Further tests revealed Bill suffered from aplastic anemia, a rare auto-immune condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood cells. The Queen’s Medical Center became his home for the next 26 days.

Bill’s age and lack of a sibling donor eliminated his option for a bone marrow transplant; instead, he received immunosuppression treatment during which, he says, “wiped out my immune system in an attempt to ‘reset’ it.”

The treatment was successful at first. But in June of 2007, Bill’s blood counts began to decline again. Transfusions resumed in September; fortunately this time, he only needed two transfused units of red blood cells every three months, and an occasional platelet transfusion.

“Still, my quality of life was pretty bad,” remembered Bill, who serves as chief executive officer of Hawaii Patient Accounting Services. “I was always tired and could not do much. It took every effort to keep up with work. By the following spring, my hematologist wanted to put me back in the hospital for a second round of heavy drugs.”

Seeking an alternative option, Bill turned that summer to an aplastic anemia specialist at the UCLA Medical Center. The specialist recommended using a significant dosage of cyclosporine, an immunosuppressive drug. Although hesitant to take more drugs, Bill obeyed doctor’s orders and, within six months, saw his blood counts start to improve.

“I am happy to say that I have not needed a red blood transfusion since July 2008!” he exclaimed. “I am still on the cyclosporine, and will be until my counts are fully normal, barring any damage to my kidneys since cyclosporine is toxic to them. But so far, so good.”

Through this challenging experience, Bill has had only one regret—that he has never been a blood donor.

“I was scared of needles; I was a wimp,” he said wistfully. “I wish I could donate blood now, but I can’t.”

But he’s found other ways to give back, most recently as a patient speaker for the Blood Bank of Hawaii and a loyal recruiter for the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center blood drives.

“It’s the least I can do,” Bill said. “When I was a patient and lay in my hospital bed watching the blood drip into my body, I realized that I was being kept alive by people I didn’t know, but who cared enough to give of themselves so other people, like me, could live while they received treatment.

“I received over 30 units of red blood and 30 units of platelets over the last three years,” he recalled. “Without the selfless giving of all of those donors, I would not be here right now, my wife would be a widow and my 14-year-old son would be without a father. I am truly grateful to them all.”