National Blood Donor Week ends with powerful reminder from St. John’s survivor
National Blood Donor Week is coming to an end, but over the weekend the St. John’s Donation Centre held a special event to mark to 20th anniversary of Jill Snow from St. John’s, receiving life-saving transfusions.
Twenty years ago, Jill’s family received the late-night call no one expected: a severe infection had turned septic, leaving the healthy 30-year-old fighting for her life. Blood and plasma products saved Jill and made her life-saving surgery possible.
Today, fully recovered, Jill has become a blood donation advocate and shares her story to remind us that anyone can need blood.
Gord Skiffington, community development manager with Canadian Blood Services says the organization is in need of all blood types every day of the year.
According to Canadian Blood Services donations tend to go down in the summer months, but the need doesn’t dissapear. Just over 400,000 people donate to meet the needs of nearly 40 million people in Canada. Only about 2 per cent of those who are eligible currently donate, while demand continues to grow: more than 10 per cent for blood and 50 per cent for plasma, driven by health systems serving an aging population and advances in clinical care.
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