I started donating blood when I met my husband Steve Moore. He had been donating for years and encouraged me to do the same. There was some irony when he fell ill with Acute Monocytic Leukemia and received many different blood products during the year he fought the cancer. He and I saw first hand the lives donated blood products were saving. Sadly I lost him; it was almost 19 years ago. I still donate blood and encourage others to do the same. You see, I work in a Cardiac Operating Room and routinely give blood products to my patients. I see first hand how the blood products saves lives. I am O-negative, the universal donor. The operating room isn't where I commonly see my blood type used. An O-negative person can only receive O-negative blood. Trauma is where my blood is commonly used, or some other type of emergency situation. It didn't cost me a thing to give, and I am giving much more than money can buy. A loved one can stay with their family for many more years or just a short amount of time. The time Steve and I gained was enough for us to come to terms with his diagnosis and prepare, let our children prepare ........ and we fell even more deeply in love. Thank you donors, whomever you are.
