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June 12 this year has become extra special for actress Iza Calzado as it was not only her motherland’s 122nd Independence Day and her mother’s birthday were being celebrated.
On the second Friday of this month, the actress, who survived coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has finally been able to donate her blood plasma after failing to become an eligible donor due to low hemoglobin levels.
“I never knew that giving my blood would be such an emotional moment for me,” Iza wrote in her Instagram post, where she also shared a photo of her happily holding a bag of blood she reportedly donated to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).
The actress did this three days after she was cleared to donate last Tuesday.
She recalled how she turned emotional when a doctor played the song “Bayan Ko” while she was making the blood plasma donation.
“Perhaps it’s because, as a Covid-19 Survivor, I truly felt that this was one of the most powerful ways I could help my fellow Filipinos during this time,” Iza said.
“It gave me so much hope to think that Maybe I could help restore someone’s health and that, through our collective efforts, we can restore our country’s well-being and make it better,” she continued.
In a Laging Handa press briefing last April where she detailed her coronavirus battle, Iza shared that the first symptom she experienced on March 13 was tightening and dryness of her throat, followed by a cough, fever, and loss of appetite. The actress said she hesitated to go to the hospital at first to undergo a test, thinking that there were other people who were more in need of it.
She then went to a clinic on March 20 when her situation has gotten worse. It was found out that her white blood cell was low and that she had pneumonia so they immediately went to the hospital where she also got tested for COVID-19.
[READ: Iza Calzado: I’m currently hospitalized for pneumonia, tested for COVID-19]
It was on March 27 when the actress got her test result, but her manager, Noel Ferrer, assured that she was “recovering well” and being “aggressively treated” for pneumonia and the virus.
[READ: Manager says actress Iza Calzado confirmed to have COVID-19]
When she was discharged from the hospital, Iza said that the PGH and Makati Medical Center reached out to her to inform her about the blood plasma donation drive for COVID-19 survivors.