New Jersey's blood shortage prompts urgent call for donors: "You can help people"

New Jersey health officials are stressing the need for more blood donors as a supply shortage continues to grow.

The New Jersey Department of Health said the state has less than a one-week supply of red blood cells and less than a day's supply of platelets.

"I was so shocked that I was getting so many transfusions," Jenny Farley said, "and I was grateful."

Farley had complications from hernia surgery and ended up needing extra blood.

"I kept staring at the blood bag in disbelief that someone I don't know in some blood donation center from the Red Cross donated blood that ended up saving me," Farley said.

The blood supply is now dangerously low, according to the Red Cross, which says nationally, more than 15,000 donations went uncollected due to the winter storms.

"You have cancer patients, you have people who have sickle cell disease, you have all of these people who need blood on a daily basis," Farley said.

The nation usually sees a drop in donations around this time of year because people don't donate over the holidays. Bad weather and illnesses also get in the way.

"It definitely impacts the treatment of patients that are coming in for emergency situations, surgery patients, patients that are being treated for leukemia or cancer," Linda Wienclaw, account manager of the New York Blood Center, said. "If the platelets and stuff aren't there, we have to work to find them or transfer them from other blood banks."

The Red Cross says more than 45,000 units of blood are needed each day in the United States.

Kelli Smeltz says she rolls up her sleeve to donate a couple of times a year.

"It's just a little bit of your time and you can help people," Smeltz said, "and that's really kind of amazing."

Because just one pint of blood can save as many as three lives.

It's estimated that three in five people are eligible to donate blood, but only three in 100 people do. To book an appointment to give blood, visit redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-red cross (1-800-733-2767).