According to American Red Cross, every two seconds, someone in the country needs blood. They need blood his or her body can’t produce fast enough, and in these cases, they need donated blood.

“I may be a rare person in that I not only consented but requested my own emergency hysterectomy because I started yelling, ‘Take it out! Take my uterus out! I don’t need it,’” said Shannon Harvey, a former patient at the North Carolina Women’s Hospital. “Because I wanted them to be really clear on what my priorities were.”

Harvey was one of those who needed donated blood. She had a baby at the North Carolina Women’s Hospital in February. The doctors noticed she was losing too much blood during her C-section and needed a total of seven units of blood during the birth and subsequent surgeries. She said she lost almost all the blood in her body.

“They estimated initially that I lost five liters of blood, and subsequent conversations that I’ve had with the surgeons—they think that that estimate was low and that I actually lost more than that,” she said.

Lynn Eades is the webmaster for the Carolina Blood Drive, and she’s on the planning committee. She said situations like Harvey’s are why the Carolina Blood Drive started – to collect blood for those who need it, and during a time of year when blood donations typically decrease.

“It’s a blood drive that had gone on for a long time,” Eades said. “It’s done in the summer because when Chancellor Hardin initiated it in 1989, he realized that’s when the blood supply was lower—the students were gone and folks were out so he wanted to make a difference and we’re continuing that.”

The blood drive began at seven o’clock Tuesday morning and runs until 6:00 P.M. And just because it’s only one day – doesn’t mean that planning the event, food, special guest appearances and door prizes is an easy job. Ricky Roach is the chair of the blood drive planning committee. He said he became involved after one of his friends passed away from a connective tissue disorder. His friend had needed blood donations during surgeries. Roach said it inspired him to be involved for the rest of his life.

“In any capacity, whether it be chair of the committee or a committee member or whatever: I intend to be on it for as long as I possibly can,” he said.

Harvey said it’s possible she wouldn’t be around to share her story if there hadn’t been enough blood donations available during her baby’s birth.

“The only reason they had plenty of blood for me is because people had donated and UNC hospitals had those reserves on hand,” she said.

Click here for more information on giving blood. 

Click here to sign up for a time to give blood at the Carolina Blood Drive.

Photo via Carolina Blood Drive.

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