Some quick housekeeping…some of you may have noticed a great new addition to our blog at the bottom, namely the email subscription box. You just have to type in your preferred email address, verify the address and then any new blog posts here will be delivered straight to your inbox. Be sure to continue to visit us here to provide comments and feedback, we love hearing from folks!
Second, I wanted to provide a quick update on Geneva, Ill. alderman Charles Brown. The Daily Herald reports today that Mr. Brown is back at work after receiving a successful kidney transplant on June 12. You can read the full story here and we look forward to working with Mr. Brown as he plans to volunteer with one of our key coalition partners, Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network.
Now on to the topic of this post…blood donation! So often, folks overlook the critical importance of blood donation and it’s close tie to organ donation. Donated blood is not only crucial to the organ transplantation process, but helps save the lives of victims of car accidents, burn victims, cancer patients, bone marrow transplants and fulfills a variety of other needs. Point being…we’re human and we need blood to survive!
I encourage you to check out another of our coalition partners, Rock River Valley Blood Center, based out of Rockford, Ill. In addition, LifeSource, Chicagoland’s blood center that has over 23 fixed site Donor Centers and three mobile units. Find a specific location here to donate or to set up a blood donor drive at your workplace. Illinois law even grants time off from work with pay to donate blood! LifeSource also has a great FAQs section to address any questions or concerns you may have about blood donation or the process involved. Along the same lines, be sure to also check out the National Marrow Donor Program.
I leave you with this light-hearted spot from the Ad Council encouraging folks to donate blood.
Enjoy and remember to have a safe and happy 4th!
-Scott
Technorati Tag: Donate Life Illinois
My wife, Laura, donates platelets somewhat regularly. It’s a two or three hour process with your arms secured to the armrests of a chair as they draw from one, pherese the platelets out, and put the rest back in the other. I’m proud of her too.
Sometimes I stop by a little early to pick her up. I love it when someone is completing paperwork or waiting to donate. I strike up a little conversation (I find it pretty easy to do that…) I ask them if they’ve ever met someone they’ve helped – or even met someone who has received blood. Very often they say no. That’s when I smile because I know they’re mine for a few moments…
I tell them about my donor Kari. I tell them how she told her family how strongly she felt about organ donation, and that I’m alive because of her. I tell them about breathing with her lungs, and I show them her beautiful smile in the pictures I always carry.
Then I tell them that I needed five units of blood and blood products when Kari saved my life. I don’t know what would have happened if that blood wasn’t available. I let them know that Kari saved my life, but all of those people who gave the blood and blood products I received also had a hand in saving my life. I tell them someone just like them helped save my life too.
Isn’t that the coolest thought?!?! You’re opening an arm and letting someone draw a pint of blood. You see the bag fill, and then you see it disappear into another room. You get your juice and your chocolate chip cookie, and you go back to your desk or whatever you were doing…
You don’t see the other side. You don’t see what happens after your blood leaves that room. You don’t see it rushed into an emergency room or operating room and hung from a pole and given to a patient hanging on the edge of disaster. You don’t see that person’s life saved by something you gave them. You don’t see it, but it happens every single day.
When I’m finished talking to that person in the waiting room, and they’re name is called because their chair or table is ready – I usually get a hug… We’re usually both welling up. I know they’re thinking of the beautiful girl that saved my life – and I always hope that the image of all the lives they may have saved, or will save, is crossing their mind as well…
There are a lot of ways to save a life…
Very cool, thanks Steve. I also came across this incredibly motivating individual today in the Sun-Times:
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/health/453033,CST-NWS-kind0703.article
Wowzer!
Very cool article in the Sun-Times, Scott!!! People like Mr. Pomykala are just amazing — and he just seems so matter-of-fact about it… That it just costs him a few hours out of a day…
Can you even imagine the number of lives he’s touched?!?! He just gave his 400th unit — I can’t imagine the number of lives he’s saved…
You take care, Scott! Thanks for spreading the word…