Laurence Sirois first rolled up his sleeve to donate blood as a pharmacy student at Wayne State University during the height of anti-Vietnam War demonstrations in the early 1970s. The American Red Cross held regular blood drives in the student union at the time, and Sirois felt compelled to help.

“With the soldiers over there needing blood, I thought, it’s time for me to step up and donate,” he said.

Sirois, who grew up in the Downriver communities of Wyandotte and Southgate, continued donating regularly throughout college. But after graduation, life took over and he paused his donations for many years.

However, in the early 2000s, while working as a pharmacist at a local hospital, a patient inspired him to begin donating blood again. Sirois was providing outpatient services to a boy with a rare autoimmune disease that destroyed his red blood cells and platelets.

“We did his outpatient services, and the patient’s care team would tell me, ‘He’s back in the hospital, he’s just up on the floor.’ They were giving him three units of platelets, or two units of whole blood — whatever it happened to be,” Sirois said. “He was getting pretty much everything that’s derived from blood.”

“That’s when I started back giving,” said Sirois, a resident of New Haven in northern Macomb County. “I saw how much he used in a week, and I couldn’t give that much back in five years. I said, ‘I’d better step up and give a little bit of blood and platelets to ease the burden on the Red Cross.’”

Now 75 and retired, Sirois continues to donate blood and hopes to inspire others to do the same. Since 2017, he has donated more than 95 units of blood, many of which were platelet donations.  

“I just wish more people would take the time to donate,” he said. “It’s not a lot of time to give to help save somebody.”

By Sydney Henry, regional communications manager