In March 2024, on what would have been my parent’s 74th wedding anniversary, I will give my 150th blood donation – representing life-saving contributions to 450 people.
“Whosoever saves a life, it is as though having saved the entire world.”
Over 50 years, I have donated both plasma and whole blood. My commitments to recipients and to quality blood services are a direct extension of the good works of friends and family members.
Throughout World War II, my Grandmother, Regina Fang Katz donated frequently. Both my Uncle Carl and Dad volunteered for military service at 16 and 18 years old respectively, in service of our very democracy. My Uncle served in the Merchant Marines and was deployed on the Murmansk Run (among others) – a dangerous convoy into the Arctic Ocean to deliver war materials. My Dad trained first as a Gunner (in Petawawa) and was later seconded by the British Army to serve in Intelligence. With her only two (young) sons directly in the line of fire, my Grandmother gave her own blood to those in immediate need.
My collection of Blood Services lapel pins includes my Grandmother’s from that era.
My Father, Leon Katz, O.C., O. Ont. attended my 100th donation. Mum may accompany me to my 150th, at which my dear friend Joan will donate “with me” in real time - in Victoria! We played cello together in many Ottawa Symphony concerts, then donated over many years before Joan moved to B.C.
My Dad was one of Canada’s first pioneering bio-medical engineers. Not only did he invent the first heart-lung pump for open heart surgery, the first fetal monitor, baby incubator, a first cardiac pacemaker; he also designed leucotomes and electrodes for Dr. Wilder Penfield (at the Montreal Neurological Institute) for cutting-edge brain mapping work, then established cardiac catheter laboratories across Quebec, and for Senator Dr. Paul David (at the Institut de cardiologie de Montréal).
At Health Canada, Dad’s team discovered the backflow hazard from non-sterile evacuated blood collection tubes, then introduced new legislation in respect of patient-donor safety with mandatory sterilization of every EBCT – a Canadian standard later emulated by other countries following Dad’s articles in The Lancet.
I am proud of Canadian Blood Services staff and work, grateful to be a small part of the team and able to contribute to life-saving in concert with loved ones and values of mutual respect and caring.
