CNN afternoon anchor and Westminster Schools graduate Brooke Baldwin donated her plasma this week to Red Cross to help others who are suffering from COVID-19.
Her plasma, which now has the viral antibodies, will go to three other patients to help them fight the virus.
She found out April 3 that she had the novel coronavirus and said she suffered for two weeks.
“I was one of the luckier ones,” she said. “I eventually got the all clear from the doctors and got back on my feet.”
Robeap Santos, a team supervisor with the Red Cross who came to New Jersey for two weeks, took Baldwin’s blood at an American Red Cross pop-up site in Newark, New Jersey.
“A machine separates the plasma from my blood,” Baldwin said during the news report. “My blood gets pumped back into my body.”
Santos said the blood will go to patients having a hard time recuperating from the virus. “This is actually saving the lives of mothers who can go back to their kids,” Santos told Baldwin, tearing up.
The Red Cross supervisor said plasma donations extended the life of her sister, who died of leukemia four years ago, so this is a personal mission as well.
Baldwin, who now works out of New York but spent many years in the Atlanta bureau at CNN Center, said “they made the process for me pretty painless. After an hour, I was done. I’m a little woozy but so grateful to give.”
About the Author
