During her undergraduate years, Barbara worked as a med tech assistant in a Washington, DC, hospital – she delighted in recalling her time there and was always proud to have been in the city the summer of 1963, when the March on Washington occurred.Following her post-secondary degree, Barbara briefly moved to New Jersey to work for Merck Pharmaceutical Labs however, she felt compelled to move closer to home and found work at the Research Clinical Pathology Lab at the University of Texas MD Anderson Hospital in Houston, TX.It was in her building at the hospital that she met the love of her life, Andrew Spencer Tomb III, who, on their first date in February 1967, took her to a Galveston, TX, beach and showed her his new book on plants, as a budding botanist does. She attended the University of Oklahoma and received BS and MS degrees in microbiology. The family later moved to Tulsa, OK, where Barbara graduated from Marquette High School. Tomb Barbara Suzanne Tomb, age 80, passed away Ad Astra on November 27, 2022, at Ascension Via Christi hospital in Manhattan, KS, with her family by her side.Barbara was born on April 27, 1942, to Irving and Pauline (Warner) Gallup in Troy, NY. Trying to keep perspective on it is important, to stay positive to the best of our ability and to encourage others to do so as well, not to feed into the fear.Barbara S. “This isolation isn’t a life sentence, it’s just a period of time. “Our natural behavior is to sink into fear,” Jennifer said. To qualify to donate plasma, you must be at least 17 years of age, 110 lbs, in good health, have a verified diagnosis of COVID-19 and be fully recovered and symptom-free, according to the American Red Cross. But if you even imagine that you’ve had anything that feels like that, it’s worth asking for the antibody test … see if you can be part of the solution.” “I think that because we can be carriers and be completely without symptoms, we don’t know who’s had it. “I think more people have had than we realize,” Jennifer said. Jennifer’s donation in Salina was the first time the Red Cross had collected plasma for COVID-19 in the area. The week prior to Jennifer’s donation, the Red Cross collected plasma in Oklahoma City to help treat a patient with a severe case of COVID-19 and saw improvement within a few hours, Jennifer said. Jennifer said donating plasma took about two and a half hours, and it is estimated the plasma she donated could help as many as three people with COVID-19. If there is any way that my blood could help somebody else, I absolutely want to contribute to the solution.” “So many people are just suffering from this and there doesn’t seem to be a known way to solve this. Related: Tuition remains flat for 2020-2021 academic year because ‘it’s the right thing to do,’ President Myers says “Jennifer is so service-oriented and so community-minded that it was absolutely a natural thing for her to say ‘I’ve suffered with this, let me help ease somebody else’s suffering.’”Īfter recovery, she traveled to a Red Cross location in Salina to donate plasma. “Once we found out that was a possibility, we were both very aggressive in out whether or not we could,” Andrew said. However, Jennifer qualified.Īfter experiencing the difficulties of COVID-19 firsthand, Jennifer said she read about the opportunity to donate plasma and wanted to help others. “So instead of having my body fight the stress and worry and fear, it could just fight the coronavirus.”Īs part of his treatment, Andrew took blood thinners - a factor which contributed to him being unable to donate plasma. “It took away a lot of the stress and it made me happier because I saw all of the support,” Andrew said. Andrew said he felt like he had a lot of support while he was battling COVID-19. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications, his wife Jennifer Smith, who teaches at several universities including Kansas State, and their two daughters contracted COVID-19.Īndrew developed the most severe case and suffered blood clots, bilateral pneumonia and spent five days in the intensive care unit at Ascension Via Christi. Some, however, might be able to directly aid individuals who are currently fighting COVID-19.Īccording to the American Red Cross, people who have fully recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies in their plasma that can attack the virus and potentially help treat patients with serious infections.Īfter a spring break trip to London, Andrew Smith, professor of practice in the A.Q. Some are making cloth masks to donate, while others are tending to their essential work to provide food or groceries for others. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Smith)Īs doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals are searching for ways they can help their communities. Andrew and Jennifer Smith smile in London.
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