Last weekend we held our third annual diagnosis anniversary blood drive! Since we were in a new state this year, we decided to switch things up and got in contact with United Blood Services to host our blood drive. They provide all the blood for Phoenix Children's Hospital. We are happy collecting blood for a range of ages and needs - there are so many- but it was neat this year to be able to give back specifically to kids like Elena.
Because of a scheduling conflict with another blood drive down in our neck of the woods (and our ward's neck of the woods), we decided to hold the drive in Tempe at Eric's work. They were wonderful supporters and we had a nice turnout for our first year in a strange place.
Lots of new things this year: new state, new weather pattern (it was HOT!! Made me glad Elena was diagnosed in March instead of July - we'd be done for here! :)), new people, and we held the blood drive with UBS' bloodmobile instead of setting up inside a building. It was nice in some ways (lots less work for us) and not as nice in others (missed that interaction with everyone that gathering inside one location provides). The bloodmobile was pretty fancy - it's amazing the set up (and the delightful AC) they have on a bus!
Overall, it was a great experience - one I'm always so grateful we get to be a part of. I think donating blood is one of the COOLEST things in the world - you are literally saving lives in a very immediate way. I am grateful to get to have a very small hand in that. And mid-March still proves to be a little rough mentally for me. So, I'm really grateful for the distraction. Although, we decided that next year's drive will be on the actual date of March 18th because we need something uber distracting on that date! :)
In all, I think our grand total for the day was something like 32-ish donors who showed up and 24 actual units of blood collected. Thanks to everyone in distant places who gave blood in Elena's honor. It means a lot and it helps us to feel like we're making even more of an impact that just what we accomplished here. We love you and appreciate your support!
Here's to three years of fighting, blood, awesome people in our lives, and great opportunities to be involved in cool things!
Eric's fantastic co-workers
We were lucky enough to have some family with us for the big day - Christy and Tom made the trek from Tucson to drop a couple of pints and celebrate with us. Thanks guys!
More of Eric's great co-workers
The lady of the day
In our down time, we enjoyed some Monopoly Deal and tried to chase the shade. :)
Thanks to everyone who participated and helped make the day a success! Don't forget to give blood often! :)
5 comments:
What a wonderful group of people Eric works with! Wish we could thank them personally. We are so glad it can be a celebration of life. Love you all!
I'm so glad that you were able to celebrate. Even if it's a group of new people in a new place!
What a great thing you've done these past three years. I admire you so much, and it was fun to see Eric's coworkers. Aren't people amazing? You give them a reason to do something good, and they step up and do it. We love you!
You guys rock! Someday I'll be as cool as you. I'm hoping anyway!
we were so happy we could make it! except for when the lady said i had invisible blood and had to poke me again... but we won't talk about that ;). i really did think about all the pokes elena got while she was in treatment and manned up. anyway, it was a very fun day. and the amount of AC in the bloodmobile was insane! i was shivering.
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