Medina woman leading petition drive for right to donate blood

Nicole Tuohey denied because she needs help answering questions from medical personnel

Nicole Tuohey

MEDINA – Nicole Tuohey is hoping a petition to the FDA will convince them to allow her to give blood. Because she cannot sit alone with medical personnel and answer questions about her health, she has been denied her the right to give blood.

From the day she was born, Nicole has had to fight to be like other people.

Born with Triple X Syndrome, the daughter of David and Mary Lou Tuohey, doctors told her parents she would never walk, talk, go to school, ride a bike or do any of the things other kids do.

She has proven them wrong, and now she is out to win another fight – the right to save lives.

Nicole, 33, helps her mother in the store with fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Association and National Disabilities Month She makes links out of construction paper and then joins them together as they are sold.

She makes bracelets to sell as a fundraiser, and now she wants to give blood, but has been turned down. Every week, she points to her arm and looks at her mother, who repeatedly has to tell her, “Not yet.”

“It doesn’t make sense when so many people need blood and here you have a healthy young lady who is begging to give and they won’t let her,” her mother said.

Mary Lou has written a petition to the FDA requesting they allow her to sign for Nicole, so she can give blood. Mary Lou has legal authority to sign for Nicole in all facets of her life.

“It is heartbreaking,” Mary Lou said. “I’ve signed for her heart surgery and her brain surgery, but they won’t let me sign for something as simple as this.”

Mary Lou is asking the public to stop in at Case-Nic Cookies at 439 Main St and sign her petition.

“It will mean the world to Nicole,” Mary Lou said.

 The petition will be available there until the end of March.