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Giving Blood: A Debt Repaid
Maura Kennedy, Special to RedCross.org
Monday, July 31, 2006 — I am thrilled to report that on Thursday, July 27, I was able to repay a longstanding debt.
Fifteen years ago, I watched in a hospital room as a single unit of Red Cross blood gave my dying father the strength to go home and the time for his six children to be with him there for his final days.
I had already worked for the Red Cross for four years, and so the sight of that blood forced the first tears from my eyes. It’s hard to describe the gratitude we all feel toward a person we will never know—a person who donated blood for a stranger who happened to be our dad.
I have always wanted to donate blood. I am amazed to think that I hold within me a substance that can save lives and that I only have to roll up my sleeve to share it. For various reasons, however, I did not qualify to be a blood donor until one of the rules changed recently.
I know that in the summer months the blood supply is always critically low, and I had heard that this week, it was even worse than usual. So, I went into the blood center.
The process was amazingly easy—I answered a bunch of questions intended to weed out people who should not give blood for the sake of their own health or the health of the people who will get the blood. They offered me a cold drink, invited me to recline on a comfortable chair, and took my blood. It hurt about as much as a mosquito bite. Then they thanked me profusely, and after some cookies and juice, I was on my way.
A few hours later, I looked at the bright pink bandage on my arm—and the tears came. They were tears of joy and gratitude. Finally, after all these years, I gave back the blood my father received. Maybe it will help save a life of a child, or a cancer patient, or someone who has been in a terrible accident. But, if my blood merely helps someone like my father die with dignity—surrounded by his family, then that would be more than fine with me.
Maura Kennedy works at American Red Cross national headquarters in Washington, D.C., and recently celebrated 19 years of service to the organization, including 15 years as a full-time, permanent staff member.
The American Red Cross provides nearly half of the nation's blood supply (collecting more than 6 million units a year from volunteer donors) to patients in 3,000 hospitals across the country through its national network. Every two seconds, someone in America needs blood. The Red Cross must collect blood donations each and every day to meet the needs of accident victims, cancer patients and children with blood disorders, and the organization works to accomplish this through its 36 Blood Services regions. Please call today to make your appointment to give the gift of life. Call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE to schedule your donation or to sponsor a blood drive.
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