Meet our first COVID-19 convalescent plasma donor
Jerry Glubisz hopes some good can come of his own unpleasant experience with the illness.
May 4, 2020
Jerry Glubisz celebrated his recovery from COVID-19 by doing something to help other patients.
On April 29, Jerry donated plasma for CONCOR, a national clinical trial to test the safety and effectiveness of plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients — known as convalescent plasma —as a possible treatment for the illness.
“I feel like I’m doing something good today,” said Jerry, as he sat in the chair donating plasma. “Hopefully this will go to a good research cause and somebody will get better. And that makes me feel pretty good.”
Jerry, 63, describes his own experience of the illness as “like a seasonal flu, times two,” with a fever, nasty cough and fatigue. He went to a local hospital where he had a chest X-ray, and had his nose swabbed for the laboratory test which confirmed COVID-19.
Jerry was Canadian Blood Services’ first plasma donor for the CONCOR trial. Including both of Canada’s public blood operators (Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec), there are 10 research teams and more than 50 hospitals across the country currently participating in CONCOR.
Over the next few weeks more convalescent plasma donors may donate at one of 11 Canadian Blood Services donor centres that have the capability to collect blood components, such as plasma, through a process called apheresis. These donor centres are located in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, London, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax.
Those interested in participating in the trial can join the online registry from which Canadian Blood Services is recruiting donors. More detailed information for prospective donors is available on our convalescent plasma page and in our news release. Patients with COVID-19 who are looking for more information on convalescent plasma as a treatment option are encouraged to visit CONCOR1.ca.
