Most people have heard the statistics for blood donation: one donation saves up to three lives. Because your blood can be separated into different parts to help different people (platelets, plasma, etc.), this is true, you really can give three people a life saving blood transfusion by donating just once. But you will touch so many more.
I have a good friend who spends a lot of time in the hospital. Early in the year, he received a lung transplant, a long operation requiring huge amounts of blood. While this was a good thing for his health, it did cause numerous other conditions which required the occasional transplant to help regulate hormones and white blood cell counts. Further, he sometimes simply became too weak during his recovery as his body tried to adjust and needed a boost of blood to help him keep going. This continues to happen today. I can only guess that he received somewhere near 100 units of blood that year and he continues to need the red liquid today.
This story is a reminder that a blood donation touches more people than just those who receive the transfusion. Family and friends of the receiving patients – people just like me – are so grateful for the life-saving sacrifice that is involved when you make a blood donation. Because of blood donors, my friend is alive today living a relatively normal life.
Will you consider donating? Stop by the Byrd-Watson Blood Drive March 30, 1:30-5:30pm. No appointment is needed. How many lives can you touch?
Article by Jase Lucas / Sales & Marketing Coordinator at Byrd-Watson
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