MELBOURNE, Fla. — A nationwide plasma shortage has a Central Florida couple worried about their children's health and future.

They are asking for the community to donate to help save their lives.

  • Central Fla. couple concerned for kids' health amid plasma shortage
  • Their kids don't make proper blood antibodies to fight off infections
  • Shortage coming from growing demand, decreased donations

For 16-year-old Will Bush and his 14-year-old sister Sasha normal life doesn't apply to them. The siblings' bodies do not make the proper blood antibodies to fight off bacterial and viral infections.

They aren't healthy like most teenagers.

"The good days, I'll be able to get up and walk around — the bad ones I'll be stuck in my bed all day," Will Bush told Spectrum News 13. "Feeling like your body is saying, in a way, 'I'm done, I quit. You're on your own.'"

Their parents Stefani and Ralph bring the kids in for weekly plasma infusions at Biotest Plasma Center in Melbourne.

Their condition keeps them homeschooled and requires them to wear special masks. They also spend time in the hospital every month.

Their stress level has been magnified, as according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the United States is in the middle of a nationwide plasma shortage.

"We collect about 1,600 units of source plasma every week," said Biotest Plasma Center Manager​ Aaron Rogerson.

But Rogerson says as medicines get more advanced, the demand for plasma is growing. When you couple that with decreased donations — the shortage is here.

“We are just not able to keep up with the demand for the product,” Rogerson said.

In addition, it takes up to a year to test and manufacture donated plasma.

"We are in a shortage, and there is nothing immediately done. We just have to hang in there and hope that we are going to be okay and not significantly impacted," Stefani Bush said. "These kids live because you give."

Regardless, Will Bush's disease isn't stopping him from living. He will graduate high school early and continue to play big brother to his sister, who is in the same situation.

"The world keeps spinning — either you keep up, or it will leave you behind," he said.