Dearborn High Alumni to Host Fundraiser and Blood Drive

DEARBORN, Mich. – Former Dearborn High School classmates of Jane Hefferan, who is struggling with serious medical issues, invite the public to participate in a fundraiser and Red Cross blood drive to be held in her honor during the month of December. The fundraiser for Jane will be held from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on December 10 at the Traction Bar at 5990 North Telegraph Road in Dearborn Heights. Proceeds for a recommended entry donation of $10 will go directly to Jane. A raffle will also be held for her benefit. Entertainment will be provided by special guest Daniel Harrison and the $2 Highway.

Jane Hefferan showing off her Bryant Middle School alumni pride.

On December 30, classmates will host the Jane Hefferan Blood Drive from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of St. Paul Lutheran Church, located at 21915 Beech Street in Dearborn. Hefferan, a graduate of Dearborn High School (1999) and the University of Michigan, has battled serious illness for the past three years. Jane moved to Nashville, Tennessee to study law at Vanderbilt University. Shortly after her graduation, Jane was bitten by a poisonous brown recluse spider. The bites triggered an auto-immune disease called pyoderma gangrenosum, and Jane has since struggled through 19 surgeries, countless hospitalizations and life threatening infections.

The medications Hefferan requires deplete her red blood cell count. She estimates that she has been transfused with 40 to 50 pints of blood since her treatment began. Jane was uninsured through the majority of her ordeal after falling through the cracks between student health coverage and pre-existing condition stipulations. She received many months of charitable treatment from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, but still faces mounting medical costs and is unable to work.

Recently, Jane was forced to enter a hospital in Tennessee for several months of care, spanning her birthday and the holidays. When asked by friends what she needed to make life in the hospital more tolerable, Jane only requested that everyone who can, give blood. She was joined in Nashville this holiday by her mother Janet Hefferan, a teacher at Bryant Middle School in Dearborn.

“There is a daily need for blood donation. It shouldn’t take a national emergency for people to give,” Hefferan said while hospitalized. “There are a lot of people worse off then I am that are in need of blood.”

The best way to participate in the blood drive is to make an appointment to donate. This helps the Red Cross collect the maximum amount of blood with the shortest possible wait time for donors, though walk-ins are also accepted. To schedule your appointment to donate blood at St Paul American Lutheran Church go to www.redcrossblood.org and type in sponsor code “stpaulamerican”, or contact Jennifer at 313-549-7044 or [email protected]. You may also contact [email protected] with any questions.

To learn more about the fundraiser at Traction Bar, please visit http://fundforjane.bbnow.org  for details or to make a donation.

About The American Red Cross
The American Red Cross, founded in 1881, is the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. About 5 million patients received blood products from volunteer donors last year, and a single blood donation may help save the lives of up to three people. Individuals who are 17 years of age (16 with parental permission in some states), meet weight and height requirements (110 pounds or more, depending on their height) and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood. Donors may give whole blood up to six times per year or every 56 days, double red cells every 112 days or up to three times per year, and platelets every seven days or up to 24 times a year. Donating blood during the holidays is a wonderful way to give because the need for blood products is constant.