A Hero Next Door

By David Ullman, Red Cross writer and visual storyteller

Tegan Murray lives in a small town in the Green Mountain National Forest of Vermont. She shops at the local farmers market, plays with her dogs and spends holidays with her family. She has a career in the solar industry and performs with her family’s unicycle troupe. Tegan is also a Hero for Babies. She has CMV negative blood, a rare and desired attribute, and she is a devoted blood donor.

Tegan’s blood type is O-negative, placing her in the universal donor category.  Her blood is also CMV-negative.  Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus similar to a very weak flu.  Approximately 85% of the population have had CMV and not been aware of it, however their blood contains the antigens of CMV. Although it is a weak virus, CMV can be fatal to newborns and immunocompromised people. Often, when a newborn needs blood, there isn’t time to test their blood. Using O-negative, CMV-negative blood is the only safe option. 

“Everyone has the gift of donating blood, but the importance of my donations felt even more significant because I can help all these little babies who have  no other option for blood,” she said.

Tegan’s introduction to blood donations occurred when she was a child learning about her great aunt.

“My grandmother had a nic nac shelf and one of the souvenirs was a donation pin from either my grandfather or my great grand aunt. She donated a lot and was very involved with the American Red Cross. I always looked up to that and admired what she did,” recalled Tegan. 

Tegan experienced her first personal connection to donated blood when her maternal grandmother was hospitalized with a spinal cord injury. Due to complications, her grandmother required months of recovery and multiple blood transfusions. Tegan would stay at the hospital day and night. 

She recalled, “So many times the doctor would say ‘She needs a blood transfusion.’ and they would call for it. Looking down the hall, I would see this box being delivered to the nurse’s station and it had the red cross. I always knew it was for her. About a half an hour later a nurse would come in and hook it up. It would run through the night and by morning my grandmother’s numbers would be better. She would be better.

“I always felt so grateful that somebody had taken their time to help my grandmother, someone who had never met my grandmother. It touched me that somebody was doing that to help someone they had never met.”

It was after her mother was hospitalized and received donated platelets that donating blood became a priority for Tegan.

“Life is busy. We all have a lot going on. This time I promised I would not let anything get in the way of giving back,” she said.

Once her mother was out of the hospital Tegan scheduled her first blood donation at the Red Cross donation center in Burlington, Vermont. 

“I felt really happy to be able to finally give back for what my family received,” she remembered.

It was a month after her first donation that a letter from the Red Cross informed her of the unique attribute of her blood and the value of her donation.

“In order for a premature baby to get a donation, it has to be O-negative, but it also has to be CMV-negative or it could kill them. For some reason, I don’t have that virus. My blood can go directly to newborn babies or can be used for people who have had organ transplants,” she said.

“Ever since then I donate as much as I can. Even when I’m traveling for work.  Wherever I am I always try to find some place to donate,” she said. “It’s such a good feeling to be able to donate and the little prick of the needle is nothing.

“I don’t have a lot of time. I don’t have a lot of money. But I feel like I can make a big difference,” she continued. “It brings me happiness to feel like I’m making a difference for others.”

When her job takes her out of Vermont, Tegan uses the Red Cross app on her phone to locate and schedule donations. “I’m always putting in different zip codes, finding a location that’s nearby,” she said.

“I love how they keep track of where the donations were,” said Tegan. “And I love the messages they send back, about the status of each donation, when it was used and where it was used. Knowing which hospital and when it was used brings my donation to life. It’s not a mechanical donation. It’s real blood for real people who are really in the hospital.”

Thinking about the significance of blood donations and how they have been intwined throughout her life, Tegan reflected, “We can go into space, we can do all these amazing things, but we can’t recreate human blood. Only we as people can make human blood. And for people who need it, there’s no other way. It truly is the gift of life.”

Learn how you can give the gift of life this holiday season at redcrossblood.org.