Comments on: And what about blood donation? http://donatelifeillinoisblog.com/2007/07/03/and-what-about-blood-donation/ Organ donation campaign news, features and expert insight. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:34:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: BreathinSteven http://donatelifeillinoisblog.com/2007/07/03/and-what-about-blood-donation/#comment-27 Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:28:00 +0000 http://iamareyou.wordpress.com/2007/07/03/and-what-about-blood-donation/#comment-27 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…

]]> By: -Scott (Campaign Manager) http://donatelifeillinoisblog.com/2007/07/03/and-what-about-blood-donation/#comment-26 Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:55:00 +0000 http://iamareyou.wordpress.com/2007/07/03/and-what-about-blood-donation/#comment-26 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!

]]> By: BreathinSteven http://donatelifeillinoisblog.com/2007/07/03/and-what-about-blood-donation/#comment-25 Tue, 03 Jul 2007 15:21:00 +0000 http://iamareyou.wordpress.com/2007/07/03/and-what-about-blood-donation/#comment-25 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…

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