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Urgent call out for blood donations in Red Deer

Feb 22, 2018 | 2:30 PM

Canadian Blood Services has issued an urgent call for blood as the organization looks to fill more than 620 open appointments in Red Deer by March 10.

Nationwide, officials say 35,000 donors are needed by Spring Break to ensure all patients continue to have access to the blood and blood products they need, saying the blood supply has steadily declined over the winter months.

In central Alberta, Shelley McFadden knows first-hand the importance of blood donors. On March 14 of 2015, her 16-year-old nephew Taylor Leverick was in a car accident and air-lifted to the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton where he received 50-70 units of blood to help keep him alive until his family and friends could get there to say good-bye. Taylor passed away in the early morning hours of March 15.

McFadden says if it wasn’t for blood donations, she and her family wouldn’t have had that time to say goodbye to Taylor.

“I’m very thankful for everyone who’s donated,” says McFadden. “I wished we knew each person that donated each pint because you’d like to just give them a hug because it is so important.”

McFadden encourages anyone who can donate to do so.

“It’s very easy, it’s an hour out of your time,” she pleads. “You don’t ever think that it’s going to happen to yourself or your family or any close friends, but it does. Whether it’s a cancer patient needing the platelets, there are just so many uses for the blood.”

“I’m just very thankful that those people that did donate the blood that Taylor received, they took that one hour out of their day to do something so selfless,” added McFadden.

She says her nephew Taylor, who was from Ponoka County, was an amazing young man.

“He was a good farm kid, he was a good friend, he was the type of kid you wanted your daughter to date,” recalled McFadden. “We were so incredibly proud to call him our nephew and he was just such a great kid and very caring.”

McFadden says Taylor loved to play all kinds of sports, including hockey, lacrosse and motor biking.

“He loved his trucks, you know the louder the better. He had just purchased his own vehicle, had just turned 16 on December 3 and had been working with his dad to make the money to buy the truck. He was very sports-minded and community-minded as well,” says McFadden.

“We are also very proud of the fact that we know he would be proud of us trying to get the word out there about how important it is for blood donation.”