North Central

Our son, Carter, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia just two weeks before his 4th birthday. Up until that diagnosis and the aggressive treatment that followed, my husband and I joined many others in creating countless excuses as to why we couldn’t donate blood. We claimed we didn’t do well with needles, we didn’t know anyone who ever needed blood, or we just couldn’t find the time.   We are both well-educated, sensible people who understood the simplicity of the process of blood donation, yet our excuses just kept emerging. It wasn’t until we were thrown into the world of pediatric cancer that we could truly recognize how essential it is, not only to give blood regularly, but to educate others about the lifesaving importance of this gift, and in turn, inspire them to give.   The road we have traveled in treating our son’s cancer has been filled with countless, slap-in-the-face lessons on the importance of blood donations. Carter will endure more than three years of treatment in order to rid his body of leukemia. In the first seven months, he required 22 transfusions to help him recover from the toxic chemotherapy that eliminated the cancer cells from his bone marrow and blood. Each transfusion came at a time when his body just could not keep up with the aggressive treatment. Each transfusion literally saved his life. Each transfusion was met with our family’s hearts exploding with gratitude for the gift that was given to our son from a complete stranger.   There were days when we brought our pale, limp son into the clinic for a blood transfusion and would watch in awe as the transfusion transformed him into an energetic, rosy cheeked little boy over the span of an hour.   Armed with the knowledge that we are not the only family fighting this disease, that every day, children are counting on blood products to help them in their fight against cancer, we do our part to give back. We know that any excuses we had in the past just do not stand up to the fact that children need our help to fight a very big disease.   In fact, along with an ever-growing number of families whose children are battling cancer, we created KidsCan, a support group for families whose lives have been touched by childhood cancer. Together, KidsCan families sponsor about a dozen blood drives each year.   We recognize the gift of life that blood donations are in the fight against pediatric cancer. That gift of life runs through our healthy, energetic 6-year-old son each and every day. He wouldn’t be here without the help of blood donors.   In giving blood, we are able to say thank you for helping our little boy grow up, healthy, strong, and cancer-free.