HISTORY OF THE BLOOD-4-ROTARY CHALLENGE

Club Corner
In June of 2018, I was infected by a deer tick with a parasite called Babesiosis which at the time was a permanent disqualification for donating blood.  It may no longer be the case as of Jan 2020.  By that time, I had donated over 100 units of blood, platelets, and plasma and was disappointed that I would no longer be able to donate.  In June of 2019, I was installed as the President of the Peekskill Rotary Club.  Our club was celebrating our 100th year and as President, I chose a Presidential project to get 100 units of blood donated.  Halfway through the year, our blood donation goal thermometer read a disappointing 21 donations, so I decided to create a challenge to get people to donate.  I modeled my blood donation challenge after the Ice Bucket Challenge and with the help of two very generous friends, JP Patrick, a videographer & director, and Diane Cricchio another video superstar we created the challenge video.

    HISTORY OF THE BLOOD-4-ROTARY CHALLENGE

    By Don Rizzo (Peekskill Rotary Club)
     
    I became a father for the first time in 1992.  Complications during the birth made it an unnerving experience, and the entire process was unlike anything childbirth education classes had prepared me for.  Thank goodness everything turned out well for my wife and our newborn son.  Three years later during my wife’s second pregnancy, a different set of unexpected complications threatened the birth of our second son. Thankfully, the problems were mitigated, and our son was born during another not so standard birth.  Both instances left me feeling helpless and at the mercy of others, which was quite frightening and bothersome.  It occurred to me that in an instant, the situations could have gotten much worse and my wife and newborn sons may have needed blood.  Although it was to late for me to donate for them, I started to wonder about the people who donate blood and how incredibly generous and valuable their donations are.  I wanted to donate so that anybody who needed blood could have mine and hopefully live a long time because of it.  I wanted to be the person to save a life.  As I thought more and more about donating blood over the years it occurred to me that it is really an amazing gift.  It made me feel extremely good knowing when I donated somebody who was in life-threatening circumstances was going to live because of me.
     
    Click here or on image above to play video
    In June of 2018, I was infected by a deer tick with a parasite called Babesiosis which at the time was a permanent disqualification for donating blood.  It may no longer be the case as of Jan 2020.  By that time, I had donated over 100 units of blood, platelets, and plasma and was disappointed that I would no longer be able to donate.  In June of 2019, I was installed as the President of the Peekskill Rotary Club.  Our club was celebrating our 100th year and as President, I chose a Presidential project to get 100 units of blood donated.  Halfway through the year, our blood donation goal thermometer read a disappointing 21 donations, so I decided to create a challenge to get people to donate.  I modeled my blood donation challenge after the Ice Bucket Challenge and with the help of two very generous friends, JP Patrick, a videographer & director, and Diane Cricchio another video superstar we created the challenge video.
     
    Donating blood doesn’t cost anything but your time.  There is a very brief needle stick which is really what deters most people.  It’s a selfless gift to an unknown person.  They could be young or old, male or female, any nationality, political persuasion or sexual orientation.  It is a completely blind gift to a fellow human being.  What more generous gift can you give than your own life-giving blood?
     
    I believe that almost anybody would donate blood if they were standing outside an operating room when a nurse came out and said we’re out of blood, can anybody donate NOW?  We have a patient who’s going to die if they don’t get blood!  There’s a huge disconnect between the need for blood and the blood donor.
     
    In addition to the recipient, there are also benefits to the donor.  Over the years I’ve heard that donating blood equates to losing about 500 calories.  The blood cells you donate need to be replaced with fresh new efficient blood cells making you healthier.  Cholesterol is reduced, it reduces the risk of hemochromatosis, the excess absorption of iron by the body.  Iron stores are better maintained and help reduce the risk of cancer.  More stable iron stores help reduce the risk of heart & liver ailments and this, in turn, decreases the risk of cirrhosis, liver failure, damage to the pancreas, and heart abnormalities like irregular heart rhythms.
    With benefits to both donor and recipient, I hope that you will start donating regularly.  You can start now by donating soon and using the Blood-4-Rotary challenge video to challenge as many people as possible.