Blood Worker Gets A Timely Gift

Where I work, we call blood the ‘gift of life.’ That saying has new meaning for me now.

Where I work, we call blood the ‘gift of life.’ That saying has new meaning for me now.

Recently I was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer. By the time I got to the hospital and had an emergency procedure to repair the problem, I’d lost so much blood that I needed a transfusion.

Even though I work for the country’s second-largest provider of blood products, and had been a donor ever since college, I’d never received blood before. That was about to change.

When they started the transfusion, I was so weak I couldn’t even lift my head from the pillow. But almost immediately I watched my fingernails turn from grey to their normal pink and could feel myself getting stronger minute by minute. The more blood I got, the better I felt.

I was out of the hospital within a few days and back at work with a renewed appreciation for all those blood donors who give a part of themselves so that others – like me – may live.