Gift of Life

Author:  Rhonda Latreille, MBA, CPCA
Founder & CEO
Age-Friendly Business®

Age-Friendly Business® Becomes a Partner for Life (PFL) with Canadian Blood Services.  Come join us!

This time of year we think about giving.  Purchasing gifts, offering adventures, and extending intangibles such as our time, respect, and our recognition.

What about the gift of LIFE?

“In February 2020, Peter suddenly felt very tired and was having trouble breathing, so he went to a hospital emergency department. Within hours, doctors diagnosed him with sudden onset acute myeloid leukemia. The next day, he began a three-week regime of daily chemotherapy. 

Since then, Peter has also received more than 30 transfusions each of whole blood and platelets, and the leukemia went into remission. In August, doctors at London Health Sciences Centre successfully transplanted stem cells donated by Peter’s sister. His health continues to improve.”

(go here to read and share the full story:  https://www.blood.ca/en/stories/london-ont-blood-donor-events-celebrate-patients-ongoing-recovery)

And then there is baby Madison from Aldergrove, BC.  Madison was born with congenital heart disease and respiratory challenges.  During her first 6 months of life, she experienced many hospital stays, 2 months in a neo-natal intensive care unit, received donor tissue to surgically repair her pulmonary artery, and several blood products that helped save her life.

Madison’s mom, Christie, dad, Kyle and their extended family are forever grateful to donors.

“Money can’t buy the blood that people need for surgeries, unexpected accidents and illnesses. Donations are coming from generous people who are saving lives. My husband and I have never donated blood; it was something that never crossed my mind until we were in this situation.

“We want to do our part to get the word out that blood is needed and how little babies like Madison benefit from it. We want something good to come out from all the struggles we’ve been through. A few of our family members said they would give blood, so we set up a blood drive.

“We know we’re going to need more blood products for Madison as she goes for more surgeries. She didn’t have the best odds and now Madison is just the happiest little girl.”

(go here to read and share the full story:  https://www.blood.ca/en/stories/blood-drive-celebrates-recipients-first-birthday-honours-donors)

Christie and Kyle wanted to do their part to get the word out about the need for donors, and we do too!

To Help Make a Difference, Age-Friendly Business® Becomes a Partner For Life (PFL)
with Canadian Blood Services.  Come join us!

We are encouraging our members and their family, friends, clients and customers to continue to donate, become a new donor, make a contribution or volunteer.

To make it fun, let’s track our donations and set annual goals we can all celebrate!

Every time you make a donation, identify that you are with a Partner For Life and give them the PFL ID AGE – 0091213 for Age-Friendly Business.  Perhaps you are already registered with a different PFL – No Problem!  You can register with as many PFLs as you wish, and with each donation you offer, each PFL will be credited!

NATIONAL TARGET for Month of December 2020: — 20 donations

NATIONAL TARGET for 2021: — 250 donations.

What can you donate?  Whole Blood, plasma, platelets, stem cells, organs and tissues, money, or time!

Together, let’s meet and exceed this challenge!  Someone’s life depends upon it!

Rhonda Latreille, MBA, CPCA

Founder & CEO

Age-Friendly Business

 

How to Register for the Age-Friendly Business® (AFB) Partner For Life Program

Age-Friendly Business (AFB)® Partners for Life ID is AGE-0091213

Members can join the AFB team in these three easy steps:

Register as a new member of the AFB PFL team by clicking here  or type the url:  https://blood.ca/en/ways-donate/donate-partner/becoming-partner/team-member-registration

If you are a new donor, create an account or, if you already have donor account with us, enter your username and password to log in. Select ‘PFL organizations’ from the menu, add your PFL ID and select ‘join the team.’

Then book an appointment to donate!

 

Unburden Others

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”

Charles Dickens

You may also like…

What Was, What Is, What Will Be

  The Questions That Are On Everyone's Mind: What Was, What Is, What Will Be I had a conversation recently with a dear friend and colleague, and it stayed with me. We were talking about the new year, the kind of January that arrives with fresh calendars and promising...

Shifting Holiday Traditions as We Age

  Shifting Holiday Traditions For many, the holidays arrive wrapped in nostalgia. Old music plays. Cherished ornaments come out of their boxes. Stories get retold, sometimes with more punch than the spiked eggnog. And still, for many people in later years, the...

Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)

  Study on Aging (CLSA) Its Purpose and Its Promise Have you ever received a phone call or been invited to answer questions about your health, memory, habits, or social life, and thought, “Is this really worth my time?” If you’re between the ages of about 50 and...

Celebrate Older Persons

    International Day of OlderPersons – October 1 Mind:  Beyond Tokenism “The number of people over 60 has more than doubled in the past thirty years to 1.2 billion. By 2050, another 900 million older persons will be a part of our human family. This is a...

Intergenerational Learning – What Works?

        A New Era in Intergenerational Learning – What Works?In a previous edition of Maturity Matters, we looked at some creative and impactful intergenerational programs that brought together different generations in new and innovative ways. We...

World Senior Citizen’s Day

Clearing the Air On How We Celebrate World Senior Citizen’s DayAs I reflected on the possible topics for this month’s article, I thought about the annual and current health threats from the smoke of the hundreds of wildfires burning throughout our country right now. ...

Heatwave:

When Summer Heats Up! My husband and I live on the West Coast in Canada.  By Canadian standards, we enjoy relatively temperate weather throughout the year – not significantly cold in the winter, and not unbearably hot in the summer…until the last few years.  While,...

Wrinkles, Wisdom and Winks

Aging Without Apology Means Holding Space for the Whole StoryA few mornings ago, I caught my reflection and thought, "Good grief. When did that happen?" The emerging lines on my face, the unforgiving impact of gravity,  and the silver strands in my hair aren’t just...

How Tax Scammers Are Shifting Gears

How Tax Scammers Are Shifting GearsWhen a Knock at the Door Isn’t What It Seems You weren’t expecting anyone, but curiosity pulled you to the front entrance. Standing there was someone in uniform, flashing what looked like an official badge. Calmly—but with...

0 Comments