The Power of Life Scholarship Winner, Christopher Carnicle

COMMITTING FOR LIFE

‘Giving is a better than receiving ‘.This phase is taught throughout life and is an important reminder to what role we play in helping out society. Giving is the basis of happiness, and there is no greater gift than giving life through blood donation. Only 5% of people that are eligible to donate their blood do, and that is a number that is heartbreaking when so much blood is needed everyday.

Motivating people to give blood regularly is a tough task, but is needed in much of our society because it is simply saves lives. Unfortunately, this task is harder than it seems to complete, mostly because people have no time, or simply because they have a fear of needles. We can get people motivated to give blood in two ways: show them the way that blood donation has touched their lives by simply presenting the facts, and show them what blood donations do for American everyday.

Touching people emotionally is not as hard as it sounds because it is common to have transfusions in many surgeries, and most people have relatives who have gone through procedures that require blood transfer. If they , or anyone they know has had leukemia, a bone marrow transplant, been in a life threatening car accident, has had any form of cancer, trauma, or open heart surgery they should have reason enough to donate blood. Their loved one’s life is in the hands of blood that people around the nation give and they too can be a major part of that. Touching people’s heart is a way to inspire many to give blood and knowing that giving is affecting their life directly, will strike a chord and make them want to help. Even if family isn’t enough to affect them emotionally there are thousands of young children and babies that need blood transfusion for cancer, prematurely and heart surgery.

People need to know how giving blood is affecting them directly, and how their blood is going to be used to save life.

Secondly, people need to know the facts about donating blood and how it’s used in mass amounts everyday. One staggering number that people do not see is that approximately 4.5 million .Americans would die every year without life saving blood transfusion. That is only with 5% of the eligible population donating blood regularly. Imagine if we could increase the donors to 20%, or even 30 percent, we could stretch past the needs of our own country and reach out to those in need across the world. People need to know that just one print of the of their blood can save up t three peoples lives. By using 45 minutes of their own time, people can reach hundreds by saving life. Without blood donors many parts of the medical field would be inactive. Many people cannot help others financially, but through blood donations a donor can help others in a manner that speaks far beyond dollars signs. Everyday people can be heroes and save lives, and one day if they need it their life may be saved by someone else who donates the gift of life

Christopher Carnicle
Cypress Falls HS