By Carl Manning, American Red Cross

Amber Thomas showed up at the Red Cross blood drive at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville wanting in some way to repay the efforts that benefited her in a most personal way.

When her son Onyx was born two decades ago, he faced life-threatening medical issues where the lungs couldn’t produce sufficient oxygen for his blood, resulting in him having to be placed on a heart-lung bypass machine.

“He was given a lot of blood thinners and had to have constant blood transfusions. If it hadn’t been for those transfusions, he would have died,” Amber shared. “It was those transfusions that kept him alive until his health improved and we are so blessed for that.”

Onyx now is a student at Pittsburg State University in Kansas where he’s studying nursing as he prepares for a career of helping others.

“He is healthy and happy and living his best life,” she said.

At the blood drive, a special machine separated Amber’s red blood cells from the plasma and platelets which were safely returned to her. The red blood cells then can be used for such things as trauma care, for newborns and emergency transfusions.

Amber says donating blood has been something she has done sporadically, maybe a couple times a year. But she intends to increase her donations as the Red Cross recovers from a severe blood shortage after the national blood supply fell about 35 percent over the past month.

“It’s an hour out of my time but you can save multiple lives with that one hour,” Amber said. “It’s really that simple and that’s why I do it.”