Actress Moon Bloodgood made a rare social media plea over the weekend in which she asked fans to help her save her niece, Olive, who is in "desperate need of a heart and lung transplant."
Because the Fallen Skies star has no Facebook account and doesn't tweet, she revealed in a YouTube clip she needs help for her 16-month-old niece, who was "diagnosed with a severe congenital heart defect [Tetralogy of Fallot, Pulmonary Atrisia] and is in desperate need of a heart and lung transplant."
"How do you make a video saying, 'If your child should die, could you please donate to my niece?'" the 39-year-old actress told People magazine. "I wrestled with that, but at some point you get over it because you're trying to save someone's life."
Bloodgood explains in her video that Olive's condition is the No. 1 birth defect in the United States and states that 70 percent of children with the defect will die waiting for a transplant.
She encourages viewers to "please, please consider organ donation for people of all ages" so that "beautiful children like my niece Olive and countless others have a chance at a normal life."
"Olive's parents were told we might have to start preparing for hospice care if the donor doesn't come soon," Bloodgood told People. "Her lungs are dying. She could go tonight or in two weeks or in three weeks. They definitely don't think she has more than a month."
The child is in the pediatric intensive-care unit at Lucille Packard Childrens Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif.