RITA COOK / News Editor

FERRIS – The Ferris Independent School District stepped up recently offering the Ferris High School as the location for a blood drive to benefit 11-month-old Jesse Hunsaker.

The little girl has already had six surgeries as well as having a kidney removed at two-months-old. “The kidney disease that she has is so rare that the Gene’s that cause it are unknown,” said her mother Aerial Hunsaker. “There is also very little research done on it.”

It is called congenital nephritic, which means her kidneys leak protein necessary for her to grow.

She also has other issues such as hyperthyroidism and immune suppression.

In order for the young girl to improve, she needs a kidney transplant.

However, she can’t get one until she is between three-and-five-years-old. At such time, Hunsaker will give a kidney to her daughter.

Her mother said they want to get the word out about people giving blood and the importance of it.

“Jesse gets albumin infusions every day, that is a protein that makes her grow. It comes from the plasma that is extracted from the blood.”

T.J. Knight, Deputy Superintendent, Ferris Independent School District said he is not sure how the district heard about Jesse and the need for a blood drive, but there was one scheduled in the spring, so they just changed the date and added a focus.

Carter Blood Center sets everything up.

Students get parental permission and staff donates during their conference times to help.

At this blood drive, Knight said there were 65 donors.

He said the district holds two blood drives a year; in the fall and spring. This is the first time it went to an individual, but Hunsaker said she was grateful.

“If it weren’t for the infusions then she [Jesse] would have passed away shortly after birth,” Hunsaker concluded.