• About Plasma
    • What is Plasma?
    • Plasmagic
    • Donating Plasma FAQs
  • New Donors
    • Plasmagic
    • Donate Plasma. Earn Money.
    • Donor Eligibility Requirements
    • Donor & Patient Stories
    • Donating Plasma FAQs
  • Return Donors
    • Resources
    • Refer a Friend
    • Plasma Donation Tips
    • Share Your Story
    • Donating Plasma FAQs
  • Donor Resources
    • OctaApp
    • OctaPass
    • Donor Portal
    • OctaRewards
  • Company
    • Our Vision
    • Careers
    • News & Events
FIND A CENTER
FIND A CENTER
BACK TO OCTABLOG
Donor Stories

How One Octapharma Plasma Employee’s Car Accident Propelled Her Into a Lifetime of Activism

“Without plasma, simply put, I would not be alive today.” – Elyse, Octapharma employee and powerlifting athlete

Powerlifters are strong. It’s not all about the physical ability. Mental strength is a key component to their success. Like all athletes, they push through challenges to achieve their goals. Elyse, an Octapharma Plasma employee, won her first powerlifting competition, but obstacles she has conquered made her a winner before she ever set foot on the gym mat.

Back in 2008, Elyse was in a horrific car accident which left her with impaired mobility. She suffered several broken bones and fractures, a collapsed lung, and deep lacerations on her left leg. While she doesn’t remember much from that day, she distinctly recalls what saved her life.

A plasma transfusion.

En route to the hospital and during her numerous surgeries, Elyse received several plasma transfusions as she lost a considerable amount of blood. Approximately 40 plasma donations were needed to make the life-saving medicines she received.

“The amount of plasma donations needed in order to treat the tens of thousands of people experiencing a traumatic accident in the United States every year just truly makes you realize how important this industry is,” Elyse shared.

Plasma is an incredibly valuable resource to the medical community, both in treating trauma patients and for those with rare and chronic diseases, and the supply of plasma relies solely on human donations. Unfortunately, there is an ongoing shortage of plasma, leaving many patients vulnerable.

Car accidents like the one that Elyse was in are, unfortunately, a common occurrence in the United States. There are millions of car accidents every year and in 2021 roughly 43% of accidents result in serious injuries. In 2021, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that nearly 43,000 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes last year, a 10.5% increase from 2020.

A few years after her accident, Elyse took a job at Octapharma Plasma and currently works as a Quality Assurance Supervisor. While she began the job coincidental to her relationship with plasma, she feels educating the general public about the importance of donation is her life’s work.

In the years since her accident, Elyse has spent a lot of time in rehabilitation, surgeries, and improving her physical and mental wellbeing. Elyse wanted to show the world the radical and life-altering change plasma can make in a person’s life. Through consistent perseverance and hours in the gym, she became an accomplished powerlifter and accredits the transfusions she received as providing her with the possibility to push past her physical limitations inflicted by the accident. Her love for the sport has propelled her recovery to new heights and she says she feels stronger than ever before. Every chance she gets, she is sure to tell Octapharma Plasma donors that their donation truly matters.

“Without plasma, simply put, I would not be alive today.”

To learn more about Octapharma Plasma locations near you, visit this link.

Related

Side Effects of Donating Plasma - 2 happy women sitting on a bench
Side Effects of Donating Plasma: Positive Effects & Important Considerations
Donating plasma is a decision that benefits not only your community but can also have personal upsides for you. Plasma, the liquid portion of your blood, is essential for creating life-saving therapie
CONTINUE READING
Can pregnant women donate plasma? A pregnant woman holding a positive pregnancy test and smiling while hugging a man.
Everything You Need to Know About Donating Plasma While Pregnant
For expectant mothers and loyal plasma donors alike, one question often comes up: Can you donate plasma while pregnant? You cannot donate plasma while pregnant. Although donating plasma is an incredi
CONTINUE READING
Rob, Octapharma Plasma Team Manager and Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP) survivor.
From Survivor to Advocate 
As a mathematician and team manager at Octapharma Plasma, Inc., Rob Marchand is great with numbers. “I’m very precise, and I believe there’s a method to determine how to solve most problems, and
CONTINUE READING

Find Your Plasma Center

  • FIND A CENTER
  • Contact Us
  • Media
  • Careers
  • Octapharma AG
  • Cookie Policy

Copyright© 2025 Octapharma Plasma. All rights reserved.
Privacy. UnitedHealthcare Transparency in Coverage.

  • FIND A CENTER

Copyright© 2025 Octapharma Plasma. All rights reserved.
Privacy. UnitedHealthcare Transparency in Coverage.


Back To Top
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}