HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — It was February 2021 when Jean Goldstein was rushed to Pennsylvania State Health Emergency Department in Hershey for gastrointestinal issues. That’s where she learned the unthinkable — she was battling leukemia.

Goldstein didn’t know it at the time, but someone else’s blood was going to save her life.

“I was in the hospital for 17 days. I started my first round of chemo and chemo kills everything,” Goldstein said. “I also started blood thinner because I had blood clots all over my body that counteracted the cancer.”

Jean underwent five rounds of chemo and 30 blood transfusions. She said she couldn’t have done it without the help of the strangers who donated their blood.

“It is personal, but it’s not just to me,” Goldstein said. “[Blood transfusions] are used everyday — in accidents and surgeries. The hospitals need them.”

Hospitals across the Midstate are also in need of blood, according to the Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank, which said that the surge in demand happened over Labor Day weekend.

“Blood inventories of O+ are normally around 800 for the South Central Pennsylvania region and it’s now down around 500,” Jay Wimer, Spokesperson for the Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank, said.

Because of that, Wimer is asking Central Pennsylvanians to consider rolling up their sleeves and saving up to three lives.

The Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank has donor sites across Pennsylvania. More information can be found here.

“I feel like it’s a good way to show you love your neighbors,” Bryan Noel, who has donated blood 12 times, said. “It’s a sacrifice for people that are in need. I just do my part.”