Cancerwise

When Alizabeth Johnson first donated blood in 2013, she was a student at Victory High School in Aldine Independent School District. Her school hosted the blood drive for UT MD Anderson Blood Bank as part of its high school blood donor program.

At the time, she had no idea how much of an impact it would make.

Now, as a surgical technologist at UT MD Anderson Northwest Houston Surgical & Specialty Care and caregiver to her mother, who’s a cancer survivor, she sees firsthand just how important blood donation is.

Blood donations help friends and family

After high school, Johnson continued donating blood locally for various causes and organizations. While studying to become a surgical technologist, she donated again at a UT MD Anderson blood drive to support a neighbor undergoing cancer treatment.

Once she graduated and accepted a position at UT MD Anderson in 2023, she began donating regularly to UT MD Anderson Blood Bank.  

“Blood and platelet donations help so many of our cancer patients,” she says.

Blood donations also helped Johnson’s mother, Robbye, who needed blood after an emergency surgery in 2020.

Robbye was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma after the cancer had spread to her brain. She underwent an emergency craniotomy and needed blood transfusions as part of her recovery.

After the craniotomy, she came to UT MD Anderson for a second opinion.

“When she was first diagnosed, doctors said my mom would probably only live another six months to a year,” Johnson recalls. “But when we came to UT MD Anderson and met Dr. Michael Davies, he gave us hope. He was confident he could treat my mom, and he did.”

Robbye had immunotherapy and radiation therapy, and she is currently on surveillance.

Johnson says her mother’s experience reinforced how advances in cancer care, along with access to blood transfusions, can change outcomes for patients.

“I’m glad that immunotherapy has become such a viable treatment option for cancer patients like my mom,” says Johnson. “Coming to UT MD Anderson has truly been a blessing.”