SBC Stories connects blood donors and patients though storytelling, with new weekly articles on our blog, HemoBLOGin, featured patient stories and videos, and publications. Our patient stories inspire and move us to be of service the most vulnerable in our community, and our donor stories illustrate the many ways donors make a difference in patients’ lives every day.
HemoBLOGin — The Stanford Blood Center Blog (Read All)
Celebrating Charles Drew in Black History Month
This Black History Month, we are thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of Charles Drew, a Black doctor who broke down barrier after barrier on his mission to help patients and eventually become the “father of blood centers.” Charles Drew was born to a middle-class family in 1904 in Washington, D.C. Growing up, his parents impressed…
Ben and Gail’s Story: Giving Together
Last year, donor Ben Brian hit an incredible milestone with SBC: his 500th donation. When asked what motivates him to give blood, among the usual answer of service to others and the free cookies, Ben mentioned that he has been consistently motivated by the dedication of his wife, Gail. Gail is also a milestone donor,…
10 Ways to Volunteer and Give Back to Your Community This MLK Day
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Dr. King’s dedication to achieving racial equality and the tremendous impact he had on civil rights are not something to be taken lightly. Though he was well known for his eloquent speeches, Dr. King was also an organizer and a man of action, willing to put his own comfort…
Patient Stories (Read All)
Hadley’s Story: A Six-Year-Old’s Fight Against Cancer During a Global Pandemic
It’s hard to believe that for the bulk of 2019, Katy Crain knew very little about cancer. She considered herself lucky to have never had any close family members affected by it, and while she was sympathetic to cancer patients and had donated blood before, the concept seemed removed from her everyday life. All of…
Lia’s Story: Giving and Receiving
By Lia Adams, guest blogger, Milestone blood donor and plasma recipient Medical Background When I was a kid, we didn’t know I had a primary immune deficiency. All we knew was that I got sick more often than average, sometimes with unusual infections. Nothing life-threatening; I just took a lot more sick days from school than…
Recovered COVID-19 Patient Meets CCP Donor Who May Have Saved His Life
This summer, Stanford Blood Center (SBC) and LifeServe Blood Center brought together two very special heroes. Shanti Minkstein, a photographer from San Francisco, California, and Lance Becker, a banker from Des Moines, Iowa, joined a Zoom call to discuss their experiences as COVID-19 survivors. They had never met before, but they share a bond that…
Donor Stories (Read All)
Ben and Gail’s Story: Giving Together
Last year, donor Ben Brian hit an incredible milestone with SBC: his 500th donation. When asked what motivates him to give blood, among the usual answer of service to others and the free cookies, Ben mentioned that he has been consistently motivated by the dedication of his wife, Gail. Gail is also a milestone donor,…
Sam and Beth’s CCP Story: Critically Ill Patient and Wife Turned Plasma Donors
Dr. Sam P. Most, Chief of the Division of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at Stanford Health Care (SHC) and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, is not only an accomplished and beloved member of the Stanford community; he is also a dedicated husband in his familial life and a very health, very active…
Donor Loyalty Store
Have you visited the “Store” tab on your donor portal lately? As a reminder, each donation you make earns you points,* which can be used to redeem items — or donate to other organizations — in the Donor Loyalty Store (DLS) on sbcdonor.org. Store Items The DLS features gifts for all price points, from our…
Team SBC Stories (Read All)
What It Meant to Be Team SBC in 2020
To help paint a clearer picture of how the challenges of 2020 affected teams all around the Blood Center, we asked team members to tell us, in a few sentences, what being an SBC team member in 2020 meant to them. “Last year was my 21st year working in SBC’s Processing Laboratory, which performs tests…
In Loving Memory, Susan H. Belanger, RN
Lynn’s Story: Supporting Veterans as a Navy Nurse
Happy Veterans Day and thank you to all of those who have bravely served our country over the years. In honor of the holiday, we interviewed just one of multiple veterans here at SBC who continue to pursue their passion for serving others. Lynn Eisberg, Operations Support Supervisor, has been with SBC for over 16…
SBC Volunteer Stories (Read All)
Dan and John’s Story: Building Community Through Service
In honor of National Best Friends Day this year, we interviewed two of our most dedicated SBC volunteers: Dan Rhoads and John Henry. Though their backgrounds are in some ways quite opposite (“yin and yang,” as they say), the two met and have formed a strong bond, largely through their joint commitment to blood donation…
Closer to Home: When Blood Donation Gets Personal
When Rachel Ren* was a junior, she was thrilled at the opportunity to give blood at her high school’s SBC mobile drive. Rachel had never had an experience with blood donation before — never had a family member need blood that she could remember, never needed blood herself — but she felt called to help….
Volunteer Spotlight — Jennifer Harris
It’s time for your winter Volunteer Spotlight! Stanford Blood Center (SBC) is incredibly thankful for our volunteers, who play a very important role in our health care community. It is our pleasure to introduce one of our wonderful helpers, Jennifer Harris. Why do you volunteer at SBC? I believe in the importance of volunteering…