By Carl Manning
American Red Cross
For Mark and Ann Reynolds, the annual American Red Cross Katie Scott Inspired Blood Drive is more than just watching people donate blood. It’s also about honoring the memory of their daughter who in 2018 lost her fight to a rare bone cancer.
During her battle, Katie received numerous blood transfusions to help her recover from her chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Those transfusions were vital to her quality of life and ability to keep fighting for as long as she did.
At the recent 7th annual blood drive, Mark explained it was her idea, but she lost her battle the day before the first blood drive. He said that near the end she told him that it would be like she never had been here. But he quickly added that blood drive proved her wrong.
“You’re actually giving of yourself. It’s an act of love,” Mark said. “Katie was an outgoing person, and she would have loved this.”
Like all blood drives, this one is particularly important because the Red Cross continues to experience an emergency blood shortage because severe weather has hampered the rebuilding of the blood supply.
There are those who learn about Katie for the first time when they come to donate, and there are those who donate blood every year because they knew Katie and her family.
“We are friends of the family, and we knew Katie so I come every year to be able to honor her,” said Peggy Galvin.
Each year, Mark and Ann make a point of visiting with as many people as possible while they are donating blood, to thank them and explain why it is important to them.
“You see so many people giving back and that is what’s so good about this,” he said.
Over the years, the donations at the Katie Scott blood drive have increased, and Ann said that would have made her daughter happy. This year, the Katie Scott Inspired Blood Drive spanned across 5 locations. In addition to Kansas City, drives were held in St Louis, Omaha, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City totaling 577 donations.
“You can feel her presence and it makes me think of the good memories with her and how happy she would have been to see all this,” Ann said.
Individuals are urged to make an appointment to give blood or platelets by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org or calling 1-800-Red Cross (1-800-733-2767)
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