During January, blood donations typically drop off due to holiday breaks from schools, inclement weather and winter illnesses. However, it is a month of great need for blood donations partially due to holiday-postponed surgeries and schedules that preclude donors from giving blood. Each day, the Red Cross must collect 13,000 pints of blood across the country to meet the needs of patients.

With grateful hearts, this and every January to come, a Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) family in Minnesota will be forever grateful to the blood donors whose blood was used throughout their daughter’s transplant journey and her life-saving, and complicated, transplant.

Bianca Gozola was born in October 2018 to adoring parents, Laura and Nick. They had a toddler, Fiona, and were excited for the two sisters to meet. Once they got Bianca settled in at home, their hearts were full. With two beautiful and seemingly healthy daughters, they felt blessed.

Then about 16 months later, the family was playing outside on a chilly Minnesota day with other children and their parents. Laura remembers looking at Bianca and noticing that none of the other kids’ lips and fingers were blue/purple, like Bianca’s. Bianca had also been fighting a cold she could not shake. In addition, Bianca’s hands and feet always seemed to be cold and sometimes had a purple tint. They worked with the family’s pediatrician who eventually suggested Bianca undergo a heart test called an echocardiogram.