High School G/T Sponsors Blood Drive
By Courtney Thompson
Every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood. More than 38,000 blood donations are needed every day. The number of patients who receive blood in the U.S in a year is about 4.5 million.
Eighty percent of the blood donations given to the Red Cross are collected at mobile blood drives set up at community organizations, high schools, colleges, etc. Every year, the gifted and talented program has a blood drive at Marmaduke High School more than once. In early May, the Gifted and Talented Club held its second blood drive for the school year.
“In our first blood drive this school year, we had enough donations to receive a scholarship from American Red Cross, but this time, we were a few donations short. Overall, I still believe we had a great blood drive,” commented, 10th grader, Tonlee Mitchell.
If you began donating blood at age seventeen and donated every fifty-six days until you reached seventy-six, you would have donated forty-eight gallons of blood, potentially helping save over one-thousand lives!
For some, it was their first time to give blood. “Giving blood gave me that accomplished feeling. It made me feel great to save someone’s life,” stated, 10th grader, Hannah Lewis.
There are two types of blood donations. One is giving whole blood, meaning you give regular blood. The other type is called apheresis, which is a special kind of blood donation that allows a donor to give specific blood components, such as platelets.
“I figured giving red blood cells could help more than giving whole blood. I was freezing the entire time,” said Andy Brannon, “During the time I was donating, I discovered that I want to become a phlebotomist.”
Freshman Kelsey Campbell holds sophomore Tonlee Mitchell’s hand as she gives blood during the blood drive sponsored by G/T.