Donate to Emma's Blood Drive

Emma Katzen continues to fight for her life.

The 12-year-old Barrington Middle School student was diagnosed with leukemia a couple of months ago.

“There were no signs, nothing, just an ear infection,” said her mother, Christin Katzen. “You know, for a 12-year-old, everything is drama. We took her to the doctor on a Friday afternoon. We thought she had the flu, and we didn’t want to wait to go over the weekend.”

A few hours later, her parents were told Emma had leukemia.

“They say that strength comes out when strong is the only option,” Katzen said.

Emma has “crashed a couple of times, she’s had septic shock, her body started shutting down, all her organs started failing,” said her mother. “She was put in a medically induced coma to get a chemoblast.”

Emma was coming home for a couple of days last Friday. But she was expected to return to Hasbro Children’s Hospital over the weekend for more chemotherapy.

“She’s strong, she’s positive, she’s not whiny, she’s doing well,” said her mother. “It’s two steps forward and one step back. At least she’s going in the right direction.”

Katzen said she is also extremely lucky to live in Barrington.

“This town has been absolutely, totally supportive,” she said. “You know how they say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, this is a darn good village to be in to take care of a child.”

Friends and neighbors have supplied them with meals and comfort from day one.

“We’ve gotten dinner from people we didn’t even know,” she said.

Now Barrington can do something else for Emma. On April 2, you can give blood or get your check swabbed for the bone marrow registry because Emma has undergone numerous blood transfusions since she was hospitalized.

Pop Warner is sponsoring the blood drive from 3:30 to 8:30 pm in the Barrington Middle School gymnasium. Emma is a cheerleader on the Pop Warner squad that came back from Florida last December as the third best team in the country. About a month later, Emma became ill.

By donating blood, you can show your support for Emma and help others who need blood transfusions.

If you can’t make the April 2 blood drive, you can go to any Blood Center in Rhode Island with reference code 3128. Your donation will be credited to Emma.