By Nancy Aziz, American Red Cross volunteer

Growing up, 22-year-old David Burton always knew his dad Kurt held an important job.

Kurt Burton works for the American Red Cross. For the past decade, his focus has been fundraising. One of his big projects was helping raise the money needed to build the organization’s only fixed donation site in the Inland Empire. Named the American Red Cross Riverside Blood and Platelet Donation Center, it opened in December 2024 and provides lifesaving blood to the area’s hospitals, and beyond.

David realized his dad did all that, and that it mattered for their community, but he never realized how much it really mattered, until a motorcycle accident earlier this year nearly killed him.

On March 14, 2025, at about ten at night, Kurt and his wife got a call from the Riverside Police Department. David had been involved in a serious accident.

“He was breathing, but unresponsive. That's all we knew. It's probably the second worst call you could receive, you know,” said Kurt.

Kurt and his wife rushed to the scene, which was near the family home. They arrived just as the ambulance was leaving, headed to Riverside Community Hospital, the nearest Level 1 trauma center. Kurt would only later learn his son went into respiratory arrest on the way to the hospital and had to be intubated. Kurt credits the paramedic who intubated David with helping save his son’s life, but he says so many other miracles played a part.

At the hospital, the extent of David’s injuries became clear. He’d suffered multiple injuries, including several fractures. The most serious was a Grade 5 liver laceration that caused him to lose an enormous amount of blood. The prognosis wasn’t good. Kurt says the injury has a 65 to 80% mortality rate due to blood loss.

David needed a lot of blood to replace what he lost. He received 36 units in all. Kurt says that blood was yet another miracle.

“One miracle in particular happened in the weeks leading up to that night, and that is the fact that 36 people donated blood. They took the time to donate blood for someone they would never meet. And the night my son needed blood, it was on the shelf. It was there for him. It saved his life,” said Kurt.

A CHANCE TO SAY THANKS

Five months after that horrible night, father and son hosted a blood drive in honor of David. It was held at the American Red Cross Riverside Blood and Platelet Donation Center, the very center Kurt helped open in December of 2024. They were joined by David’s grandmother, his girlfriend, friends of the family, and those who work with Kurt at the Red Cross, along with others who had no connection to the family but simply wanted to give.

At the event, Kurt described his gratitude for those who donated blood and helped save David’s life.

“I mean, what do you say to someone who's just saved your son's life? I'm forever in your debt. I mean, thank you. You don't know the impact you had in somebody else's life. I mean, how many ways can you say thank you to a person, and really just mean it from the bottom of your heart, I wish I could meet every one of those people that gave blood, that David received,” he said.

Kurt also thanked those who come and go from the center every day. He’s hoping they realize what their gift really means.

“They come and they give, and they leave, and it's like something a Good Samaritan would do, but they have no idea the lifesaving gesture that they just did. They have no idea, and it's a tremendous gift.”

A RECIPIENT GIVES BACK

David, who has now recovered, says he’s grateful to everyone who gave of themselves to help him live. He gave blood at the blood drive – something he gladly did to help pay it forward.

“I don’t feel like I should be praised for it,” he said in an interview a few days after he donated. “I just feel like I’m doing my part now to do what’s right.”

David says he always thought he wanted to pursue a career as a first responder, likely a police officer. After the accident, he says he’s certain about what he wants to do – he wants to help others – much like his dad, and much like the paramedic who intubated him on the way to the hospital.

David plans to become a firefighter/paramedic. He starts EMT school this month.

Visit RedCrossBlood.org to learn more about how blood help saves lives and make an appointment to donate at a location near you.