My journey with Canadian Blood Services began even before I was old enough to donate, when I volunteered at the regular blood donation events in our small town. Then when I was old enough, I started donating blood myself. Since then, I’ve donated plasma, too (my sister and I had a little competition to reach milestone donations!) as well as organized a blood drive with co-workers at the funeral home where I worked.
When I was 18, I also joined the stem cell registry. This was after a family friend was diagnosed with cancer. At the time, there was a recruitment drive, in the hope of finding a matching stem cell donor for them. I wasn’t a match for our family friend, but I knew there was a possibility I could match someone else later.
Fast forward 20 years. My second child had recently turned one. I hadn’t donated blood in a while as life with the kids was so busy, but driving past the donor centre in Edmonton, I found myself wondering if I was still listed in the stem cell registry database. So, I decided to check.
Incredibly, I had just Googled “Canadian Blood Services” and was about to click “contact us” when my phone rang. There on the call display I saw “Canadian Blood Services.” At first, I thought, ‘did I accidentally hit “call”?’ But they were calling me, to tell me that I was a potential match for a patient who needed a stem cell transplant.
Bloodwork and further medical tests confirmed I was indeed the right match. I also learned the patient needed bone marrow. It’s the less common method of donating stem cells and requires surgery.
The day of my surgery was both exciting and nerve-wracking. I did have some fatigue, discomfort and bleeding for about two weeks afterward. However, in my mind it was all worth it, to help someone by giving hope. Just over a year later, I got the call that the same patient now needed a stem cell peripheral donation, I immediately agreed, and plans were made for the donation.
In the meantime, I was being tested to find out if I could donate one of my kidneys to a friend. While I was traveling to Vancouver to donate my stem cells, I got the call confirming I could donate my kidney. Nine months after donating stem cells, I donated one of my kidneys, in August 2025. My friend’s body accepted the kidney immediately and is living a healthy life.
