Guelph girl who lost her battle with cancer inspires local blood drive

Officers with the Waterloo Regional Police Service are donating blood in support of their colleague, Karl Dovick, who lost his six-year-old daughter after a long battle with terminal cancer.

Autumn was diagnosed with a stage four metastatic neuroblastoma in February 2022 when she was just four-years-old. She died last month in hospital, surrounded by her loved ones.

Dovick, who is a police officer with WRPS, said Autumn’s short life would have been even shorter if it weren’t for the approximately 80 blood transfusions she received – sometimes daily or weekly.

“Seeing as Autumn’s progression of the cancer would move so rapidly and quickly, if one day she didn't get the blood, she could have been dead the next,” Dovick said. “That's how scary it was.”

When she did get those transfusions, her parents said it was like night and day for Autumn.

“She would have bruising, she'd be really lethargic and maybe a nosebleed here and there, and she'd get a blood top up and platelets. It's only 40 minutes to get a transfusion. And she was running an hour afterwards. It was amazing what blood can do so quickly,” Sarah Dovick, Autumn’s mother, said.

Autumn in hospital in Oct. 2023. (Source: TeamAutumn.ca)

As a tribute to Autumn and her family, and as part of the Sirens for Life campaign between emergency services and Canadian Blood Services, WRPS is giving back by giving blood.

“It's one of the many things we do to try to help people get by, because it really helps people in emergency situations that we deal with as police officers as well,” said WRPS Acting Inspector Matt Halliday, who donated blood on Tuesday afternoon.

Canadian Blood Services said there’s an urgent need for donations as demand is at its highest point in over a decade.

“One in two Canadians is eligible to donate blood, but one in 76 does,” said Maureen MacFarlane, of Canadian Blood Services. “So even if we could get that down to, you know, one in 70, we would love that. Just a few more people coming out to sustain that inventory.” The shelf life for blood is only about 42 days so the need for blood is constant.

“Car accident victims could use up to 50 units of blood, so that's 50 people donating,” MacFarlane said.

A Waterloo Regional Police officer gives blood on Aug. 6, 2024.

As for the Dovick family, they’re grateful for the support of WRPS and whoever else is willing to roll up their sleeves.

“It goes to show the resiliency of our little Autumn and the courage and strength and the power she had to bring people together,” Dovick said.

The Sirens for Life campaign runs until September 2.