By Alice Joy
Special to the Free Lance
Hollister
– Leona Sunseri has been a regular blood donor for more than a
decade, giving in memory of her late son.
”
We donated to his body,
”
Sunseri said Thursday, with tears in her eyes,
”
But knowing what it could do for someone keeps you coming
back.
”
Hollister – Leona Sunseri has been a regular blood donor for more than a decade, giving in memory of her late son.
“We donated to his body,” Sunseri said Thursday, with tears in her eyes, “But knowing what it could do for someone keeps you coming back.”
Sunseri was one of 43 donors giving up a pint of blood at the Red Cross monthly blood drive in Hollister Thursday. The drive takes place the first Thursday of every month at the community church hall at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
That’s up considerably from November, Red Cross officials said, when only 18 pints of blood were donated in Hollister.
In order to be eligible to give blood, a person must be 17 or older, weigh 110 pounds and be in good health. About 60 percent of the population is eligible to donate, but typically only about 5 percent actually do.
Despite the needles, no one giving blood at the church hall on Thursday even seemed nervous. Light rock played in the background and the donors laughed and chatted casually as the pint of blood was drained from their arms.
Although donors are hard to come by, many people, like Sunseri, come back repeatedly. She has donated more than nine gallons to the Red Cross, and regularly gives to other blood drives as well.
Donors can give blood every 56 days – giving the body enough time to replenish itself.
Laura Kershner, the public support director for the Monterey/San Benito County Chapter of the American Red Cross, emphasized the importance of blood donations. A single pint of blood can save up to three lives, and there is no substitute for human blood, so donors are always necessary, she said.
The blood bank has the greatest need for O negative because it is the one blood type that can be given to all people.
“At the holidays there is always a need, and also again in the summertime,” Kershner said. “People are away and on vacation and not thinking about donating blood.”
