Hear This and You Won't Think Twice About Giving Blood

 
The Riverview High School cafeteria was packed with cheering students  earllier this month, who along with their teachers and principal marked a milestone achievement among schools nationwide in the cause of blood donations.

At the ceremony in recognition of receiving the "School Blood Drive Award" from oneblood.org, Renee Gandy took a moment to thank hundreds of students for giving blood while her son, Joshua, who turned 11 that day, stood by her side.

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"When I was in high school, which was a long, long time ago, I thought that when you donated blood it went to victims of serious accidents, people that were having surgeries," she said. "And I never dreamed that one day I would need donors like you to help save my son’s life."

On Nov. 4, 2009, Joshua Gandy was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. "He had leukemia cells in his blood but he also presented with a very large tumor that was the size of my hand, on a six-year-old body," Renee Gandy said. "It was about two inches thick and it was starting to wrap around his heart."

Chemotherapy started immediately, "and within three days the tumor had shrunk and it was gone," she added. "And by day eight Joshua was in remission."

Gandy noted that for children with leukemia, "the therapy is very very long," and that her son needed chemotherapy for three- and a-half years, during which time he received more than 19 blood transfusions, some of them blood, some of them blood platelets.

Every day, "46 children are diagnosed with cancer," Renee Gandy said. "That means every day there are hundreds of cancer children that are receiving blood transfusions. That’s why it is so very, very important that we have donors like you. Without donors like you, these children would not live to see their next birthday."

When his mother was done talking, Joshua Gandy spoke clearly into the microphone, his 27 words drawing a prolonged round of applause and heartfelt shouts of recognition.

Said Joshua Gandy: "Today is my eleventh birthday and I want to thank you guys so much for donating blood to kids like me, so they could see another birthday."

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