First Lady Melania Trump apparently wore her heart on her sleeve with compassion for the victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting – so much so that Melania wanted to give her own blood to those who needed blood donations. According to the below tweet from Kate Bennett, a CNN reporter covering White House topics and co-author of the CNN Politics COVER/LINE newsletter, Melania thought about donating blood while she was in Las Vegas to benefit the shooting victims, but presidential medical guidelines stopped Melania from fulfilling her blood donation wish.
As seen in the above photo, President Donald Trump and Melania Trump returned to the White House from Las Vegas on October 4, after meeting with victims of the mass shooting. One of those victims was Thomas Gunderson, a man who went viral on Facebook when he insisted on standing up from his hospital bed when Melania and President Trump entered the room and shook his hand. Melania and President Trump also visited other civilian heroes, along with authorities and first responders to the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Stephen Paddock opened fire on victims on Sunday, October 1, killing 59 people – including himself – along with injuring more than 500 people.
Source tells me @FLOTUS was considering donating blood while in Vegas, but presidential medical guidelines prevented her from doing so.
According to the International Business Times, Vice President Mike Pence was allowed to donate blood. As seen in the below photos, Vice President Mike Pence has donated blood to raise awareness for the Las Vegas victims. On his official Twitter page, Pence published a tweet on October 3, which noted that he gave blood in Arizona to raise awareness for the shooting victims in Las Vegas. In June, Pence also gave blood to honor the victims of the 2017 Congressional baseball shooting in Virginia.
Therefore, Twitter users are wondering why Melania was allegedly denied after wanting to donate blood. According to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines, concern over transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) could be the reason for the denial.
[Image by Drew Angerer/Getty Images]
“Since the U.K. has the highest number of vCJD cases, and is likely to also have the highest number of people incubating vCJD, we recommend deferral of people who have received blood products from U.K. donors. Blood donors who lived in Europe for 5 years or more, between 1980 and the present.”
Melania’s time spent in Europe during those years could be the cause of her blood donation denial, or other rules governing the first lady – or simply privacy health concerns.
Inspiring to see others donating blood in Arizona to help those hurt in the Las Vegas shooting. We are one nation and one people united. pic.twitter.com/chTIRT3zil
— Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) October 4, 2017
