NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — At the height of the pandemic, the head of New York's blood bank personally offered COVID-infected Chris Cuomo special access to blood plasma treatment that would help him fight the illness.
According to emails obtained by The New York Post through a Freedom of Information Law request, Chris Hillyer, CEO of the New York Blood Center, offered "convalescent plasma" to then COVID-stricken CNN host Chris Cuomo on April 17, 2020.
Mary Ann Tighe, a real estate mogul, appears to act as the link between the Cuomo family and Hillyer, offering the CEO's cell phone number if they take "Hillyer up on his offer."
The Post notes that at the time, without vaccines or therapeutics readily available, convalescent plasma — blood drawn from people who recovered from COVID-19 that could contain powerful antibodies — was a lifeline, though scarce.
The former "Cuomo Prime Time" host inquired about the treatment with his brother's top aide, Melissa DeRosa, which she described as an "experimental treatment."
"Sounds spooky," he responded.
Ultimately, the 51-year-old rejected the offer, writing, "I don't want to try something that extreme when I am not dying."
Just two weeks before the request was offered to the governor's brother, a 47-year-old New York City teacher died from COVID after his family fought but failed to get the treatment.
"It’s shocking if the Blood Center was offering convalescent therapy to the most powerful New Yorkers. … I wonder who else got this special therapy, said former city councilman Ben Kallos. Kallos also fought but failed to stop the center’s Upper East Side rezoning.
"The Blood Center rezoning was supposed to benefit every New Yorker," he added. "I certainly hope the Blood Center isn’t offering better treatment to the most powerful."
Dr. Hillyer, who the outlet reports made $1.8 million in 2019, didn’t return a request for comment.
Representatives for the Cuomo brothers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment, while a representative for Tighe referred the Post to the Blood Center.
Bruce Sacchais, Blood Center chief medical officer, defended the work that the Center did during that early period of the pandemic and "the outreach to Chris Cuomo."
"In the spring of 2020, New York Blood Center became the first to collect COVID-19 convalescent plasma and New Yorkers turned out in droves for their neighbors," he said in a statement.
He added, "We were able to collect 10K donations throughout April and quickly had an adequate supply to meet demand at hospitals. The outreach to Chris Cuomo was part of a larger effort to get the new treatment to sick patients and spread the word about the need for recovered patients to donate plasma.”
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