# @americanredcross on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DTS8-gxAv1I
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/72587942-americanredcross-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/d665d7274a.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-01-09T16:10:34.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** American Red Cross (@americanredcross) — https://gondola.cc/americanredcross

## Caption

At just 14 months old, Daniela’s life changed forever.

"She wasn't growing, she wasn't thriving, she wasn't eating,” said Daniela’s mother, Nicole. “They did bloodwork, and later that day, the doctor called and said, ‘Pick her up right now, get her to the emergency room.”

Additional testing revealed the unimaginable: thalassemia, a life-threatening blood disorder affecting Daniela’s ability to create healthy red blood cells.

“Her hemoglobin was a four,” Nicole said. “That's pretty much almost dead. We caught this just in time. We were in the hospital for five days — seven blood transfusions. There's absolutely no cure for thalassemia. She receives blood transfusions every three weeks for the rest of her life. We have just hit her 200th blood transfusion."

Now 13 years old, Daniela is all too familiar with how it feels right before and after a blood transfusion.

“I’m really tired, just feel like laying down and sleeping — I just don’t want to do anything,” Daniela said. “After a blood transfusion, I feel more productive, and I feel excited for my week, excited for school, excited to do things.”

Despite the challenges and frequent medical checkups, Daniela refuses to let her condition keep her from doing what she loves: dancing. It’s something she’s been doing for 10 years.

“Dancing is the only thing I can do,” Daniela said. “I can't do any contact sports. So it just lets me be free and lets me express myself, which I love, and I just love doing it."

She choreographed a dance solo called "Heal: Her True Story," which tells her medical journey through movement.

“It's about my true story and how I have to go to the hospital and get blood transfusions every three weeks, and what I have to go through,” Daniela said.

Every blood donation gives Daniela the strength to keep dancing.

“Thank you, from the bottom of my mama heart, for saving my child every single time that you donate blood,” Nicole said. “She lives and thrives and gets to do all the things she loves to do because of these wonderful strangers and wonderful humans who come out and donate blood.”

#DonateBlood #GiveBlood #DonateBloodSaveLives #GiveBloodSaveLives #Thalassemia #ThalassemiaAwareness

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 1,000
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 16

## Credits

No public credits are recorded here. This does not identify who made the post.

## Tags

giveblood, donateblood, thalassemia, thalassemiaawareness, donatebloodsavelives, givebloodsavelives

---
Copyright (c) Gondola