DES MOINES, Iowa —

Like many of the cancer patients in Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Ethan Kouri has good days and bad days.

For the last five years, he's been fighting Acute Myeloid Leukemia, or AML. His better days are the ones when he has access to blood products.

"Once I get my blood, I feel so much better," Kouri said. "Like, within hours after my platelets, I'm a whole different person."

But there are days like Wednesday, when his nose bleeds for hours because he doesn't have enough platelets, meaning his blood can't clot normally.

One of his nurses, Tira Hauber, has helped Ethan with his treatment for about a year. She says, unfortunately, this is a reality for several of her patients.

"There's a shortage, and it's affecting the way that we're able to treat patients," Hauber

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