SHIRLEY, Mass. — He was so sick from the coronavirus, after being brought back from the hospital where he was tested for the disease, he sat in the driveway for 20 minutes, too exhausted to move, he couldn’t fathom walking into the front door. The man’s name is George Grenier, 70 years old of Harvard, Massachusetts. His daughter Amanda Nichols says her father would be brought to Emerson Hospital, and it wasn’t long before he was on a ventilator.
“The doctor said there was less than a 50% chance he would get off the ventilator," said Nichols.
She saw a news story about convalescent blood plasma infusions helping other patients who were severely ill with COVID-19 and thought it may work for her father.
“We were desperate,” admitted Nichols.
They began searching for potential donors on April 14, putting their plea on social media channels, reaching out to as broad a group as possible to save George. Three days later, they found Mario Alvarez of Framingham, a COVID-19 survivor who was willing to donate his plasma to help and was a blood type match for George Grenier.
On Friday, April 17, he said he spoke with the Red Cross and booked an appointment to donate blood on Saturday, April 18.
“I had it, it doesn’t hurt me, so why not try to help somebody who really needs it,” said Alvarez.
Plasma transfusions are considered experimental, not proven, and require approval from the Food and Drug Administration, according to hospitals who spoke with Boston 25 News.
The family’s requests were met, Emerson Hospital staff were prepared to do the transfusion that very week. Sadly, on Friday, the day before Alvarez would have donated his blood, George Grenier died.
Amanda was not able to see her father because of visitor restrictions at the hospital but was able to speak over FaceTime with him before he passed away.
As she focuses on her mother who is in isolation with coronavirus, she is putting the word out about the need for plasma donations, a potentially life-saving therapy.
“It has been helpful with other illness for the same type of scientific reasons,” Nichols stated.
Dr. Julian Lel, MD is in Pulmonary Medicine at Emerson Hospital and has been researching the potential for convalescent plasma.
In a phone conversation, he told Boston 25 News that plasma is unproven for COVID-19 patients though it may be helpful.
Lel said he would advise patients’ families that they cannot put too much hope in the convalescent plasma because of unknowns and even if it could work as a therapy, doctors are unsure of the appropriate timing to give it to patients.
There are also risks of blood clotting and transfusion reactions, and those major medical decisions should not be made based on whether or not a COVID-19 patient can receive plasma, Lel explained.
A spokesperson with Emerson Hospital said plasma has not been used to treat its patients infected with coronavirus to this point.
The Food and Drug Administration is approving plasma for COVID-19 on a case-by-case basis, including at Emerson Hospital and UMass Memorial Hospital.
A spokesperson for Massachusetts General Hospital tells Boston 25 News that MGH is in collaboration with Brigham and Women’s for a clinical trial involving plasma from COVID-19 patients who have recovered,
But the trial protocol is under review at the Partners Institutional Board and no date has been set for the start of the trial.
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RESOURCES:
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