MILWAUKEE — As countless blood donation centers across the country and here in Wisconsin continue to call for more people to donate and restock the dwindling reserves, a Wisconsin doctor has helped to find an added benefit for COVID-19 survivors to donate their convalescent plasma, specifically to be used for blood cancer patients who'd also contracted COVID-19.

"[I]t showed a huge difference," Dr. Michael Thompson, an oncologist and researcher with Advocate Aurora Health told Spectrum News 1. "[T]he patients who got convalescent plasma had about a 50% reduction in death..."

Recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology, the study which Dr. Thompson co-authored found that those battling blood cancers who'd contracted COVID-19 had their mortality rate fall significantly compared to those who didn't receive convalescent plasma.

"Patients in the ICU or those on a ventilator actually did better-- they had about a 70% benefit in survival," Dr. Thompson added. "To our knowledge, this is the only study in this population of patients showing a survival benefit, so it's really something we want to get out and let people know about."

You can see the entire interview with Dr. Thompson above and read the entire study here.