West Monroe woman loses daughter, speaks about the importance of blood donation

WEST MONROE, La. (KNOE) - A West Monroe grandmother is speaking out about the importance of blood donation. Her daughter, Lyndsi Sullivan, died in November but blood donations helped prolong her life. Lyndsi’s mother, Melody Sullivan, said she knows firsthand what it feels like for a family member to desperately need blood.

Lyndsi passed away in November of 2021. She had covid and internal bleeding. Lyndsi was only 27-years-old.

“Lyndsi was a vibrant, strong-willed, hard-headed, beautiful, beautiful soul,” said her mother, Melody.

When Lyndsi became ill, she was pregnant. Doctors ordered her to have a c-section and she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Olivia at St. Francis Medical Center.

Lyndsi was soon transferred from St. Francis to a hospital in Shreveport. It was then, that Lyndsi’s mother, Melody, got the news Lyndsi needed blood but the doctors said the blood supply was running extremely low.

“Literally the next day, they had a blood drive in Shreveport and they had tons of friends of the family, over 30 people that even drove over from West Monroe and Monroe to Shreveport to give, and then we had a couple in Ruston, one in Monroe, we had several blood drives for Lyndsi,” said Melody.

What the Sullivan family quickly found out is that Lyndsi was needing blood almost every day to survive.

“That was devastating for me cause I was like oh my gosh, I didn’t realize even then that it was something that’s a continuous thing that we, who are not in the medical field, don’t realize the urgency or the dire need for blood on a daily basis,” said Melody.

Melody said blood donation allowed her family precious memories that they’ll never be able to get back.

“The beauty of my daughter getting the blood is it gave her time to, for us to spend time with her in her last days, of course, we were hoping that she would’ve survived,” said Melody.

What gave Melody some peace was that blood donation allowed Lyndsi to hold her daughter for the first time before she passed away.

“She was in the hospital for a total of 47 days I think, but if it wasn’t there she would’ve never gotten to hold her only child that she had given birth to,” said Melody.

The Sullivan family truly knows what it feels like to rely on the area’s blood supply to keep someone you love alive. That’s why Melody said it’s crucial for the community to go out and donate blood when you can.

“Every 56 days, put that on your calendar and show up to donate. Please, please, because families like us and daughters like mine need it,” said Sullivan.

Melody said Olivia is a spitting image of Lyndsi and they feel blessed to have her. You can go donate blood at the LifeShare Blood Center in Monroe during their business hours. You can also click here, to find out when the next mobile blood drive is.

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