Sunday, April. 18th
8:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
In the Parish Center
ID Required (see below)

Appointments are recommended but walk-ins are welcome. To schedule an appointment please call Life Source at 1-877-543-3768 or visit www.lifesource.org and use sponsor code 023.

You can donate blood if you are:
• At least 17 years old. There is no upper age limit!
• Minimum 110 pounds.
• In good health (no cold or flu symptoms).
Most medications will not keep you from donating. If you are deferred for iron, it is usually temporary.

Please visit www.lifesource.org to find out how to become a Brighten Life member with the opportunity for donor loyalty rewards and benefits.

ID is required to be pemitted to donate blood. One of the three following methods is acceptable, listed in order of preference:

• LifeSource Donor Card.
• Drivers License/Learners Permit/State ID.
• Donors presenting with only a picture ID may be accepted if A through C has been fulfilled:
  A. The donor's picture is on the piece of ID.
  B. The ID is printed with either the donor's first and last name or first initial and last name.
  C. The donor can verbalize his/her date of birth and either the last four digits of his/her social security number or another government issued ID number.
  

As we know, many lives are saved by blood donated at hospitals and local blood drives. Maybe one of those lives saved is yours or that of a loved one.

Share your stories with us or tell us how important donating blood can be. Be the inspiration for other future blood donors. Contact us with your story by calling 773-583-7863 or emailing llinke55@hotmail.com.

Parish Health Team:
Karyn Holm, PhD RN, Susie McNulty, BSN, Leslie Linke, MA CCC SLP.

Did you know. . .

• 4.5 million Americans would die each year without life-saving blood transfusions.
• 9 out of 10 of us will require blood at some point during our lives, yet fewer than 3% of eligible donors in Chicago regularly donate. That’s way lower than the national average of 5%!
• You can safely donate one pint of blood every eight weeks (56 days), or six times a year.
• Just one blood donation can help save three lives! (That’s eighteen lives per year if you donate every eight weeks!)
• Every day, more than 1,500 donor volunteers are needed just to meet patient demand in the LifeSource service area.

Winter 2010	-	Jan. 17th		Doners: 25
Fall 2009	-	Sept. 20th		Doners: 22

My Little Boy Did Not Have to Lose His Mother
In September of 2001, my husband and I drove to the hospital for the birth of our second child. We were happy and excited and eager to hold her in our arms. We were also hopeful that this labor would be shorter and less difficult than our first. Tragically, it was neither. My uterus ruptured catastrophically during delivery. I lost so much blood so quickly that our beautiful daughter went without oxygen for too long, and though they worked on her for 45 minutes, they were unable to save her.

It is impossible for me to convey in words what it feels like to lose a child; the pain is indescribable. But this pain was nearly magnified by the loss of my own life. Every doctor who spoke to me after my emergency caesarean told me that I was very lucky to be alive. I nearly bled to death on the operating table because of the severity of the rupture. My husband, who had to endure being told, without me by his side, about the loss of our daughter, also had to endure my three-hour surgery, all the while wondering whether or not I would live. Worst of all, my then 5-year-old son very nearly lost his mother.

Sometimes I think that all that kept me alive on that operating table was the awareness, as I succumbed to the power of the anesthesia, that I was desperately needed, that I had a five-year-old to raise. But I know that the reality is that I was saved by the skill of my doctors and the availability of blood. I received five units of blood that day. I would not be alive today were it not for the fact that five people rolled up their sleeves and donated blood. You have the power to save someone’s mother. You, too, can roll up your sleeve and donate a pint of blood. Please use that power. Donate blood, and go home with the knowledge that you probably helped to save a life — perhaps even two or three lives.