#WhyIGiveBlood: Because of My Dad
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Many of our donors have unique stories about why they started giving blood. Through our #WhyIGiveBlood campaign, we are taking the opportunity to highlight some of them as an inspiration for others. This first piece in the series is by Tami Turner, a long-time, dedicated SBC blood donor.
My father is the reason I’m a 300+ unit donor. I grew up in the hills above Peninsula Hospital, for which my father was an on-call whole blood donor. He had AB blood, and would be called sometimes in the middle of the night to go down and donate.
When he died prematurely in 1985, it occurred to me that we were losing a whole generation of donors from WWII & Korean War eras, and that I needed to step up to the plate!
So it began, my donations at Peninsula Blood Center (in front of the hospital), Irwin Memorial, Sacramento Medical Foundation (now BloodSource), Blood Bank of the Redwoods, and currently here at Stanford Blood Center where I have a date every other Tuesday with my friends on Welch Road. 🙂
You can imagine how happy and proud I was when my 15 year old daughter came to me inquiring if she too could donate. At 17, she began her donations journey in Santa Rosa and continues today in Sacramento.
I think as parents it isn’t always what we say, as it is what we do, that influences our children the most. I miss my dad so much, but in this act, I feel connected to him, and that makes me happy.
If you would like to have your story featured with us, please click on the “E-mail us a story suggestion” link to the right. We would love to hear from you!