My Uncle passed away. How important it is to donate blood?

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My heart is mourning and I feel a huge emptiness. My uncle got admitted to the hospital about 2 weeks ago (not here in the US). He had a stomach ulcer that was really advanced. When I spoke to him on the phone he told me he was vomiting, he was going to go to the hospital. The hospital did not admit him and sent him back home because of the whole Covid-19 situation. We would speak on the phone very often since we had a very close connection(He lives in a different country). He called me again and told me he was vomiting a brown liquid. Automatically, I already knew he was bleeding internally. So, I told him to go to the hospital and tell the doctors that he was bleeding a brown liquid (I knew that if he said that they would know he was bleeding) and so he did. They admitted him immediately. From there on everything went downhill. Last Tuesday, a friend of his called us and told us my uncle needed blood transfusions, he was anemic and had a hemoglobin of 5. My family and I are in a different country than my uncle and obviously we couldn’t fly, so there wasn’t much we could do except phone calls. I felt like my hands were tied, but I started emailing different agencies that are located where my uncle lived. I begged for help, if they could find donors to donate blood because my uncles life depended on that. The hospital where my uncle was hospitalized had a limited amount of blood and in order to keep performing transfusions on my uncle we needed to find more donors. Unfortunately, we were only able to find 2 donors. I couldn’t believe people couldn’t donate blood. Blood that the Lord has given us for free. Well, this past Saturday my uncle asked to speak to us over the phone and we couldn’t quite understand what he said, his tongue was numbed. Minutes later, my uncle was to weak to keep fighting and he passed away. :cry: My heart feels a huge hole, emptiness, sadness, that makes me feel this pain will never go away. I know our merciful God and time will help, but for now I’m torn. I am a great believer in God, but I feel upset that people couldn’t help with the blood donation. I need to remember God is in control. My brother and I have decided to advocate and maybe in the future create an organization that explains the importance, the true importance of donating blood. I know we all have heard about it at least once, but really think about it, if you had a loved one who needed blood to survive and you were in that desperate moment of looking and looking and you couldn’t find donors…please, please if you are in good health and you can donate…please do it. The Lord gave his blood for us and he has told us love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31) we can give some of our blood to people that really need it.
Blessings to everyone and thank you for your time. Please, prayer for my family and I during these tough times.
God Bless Us All
 
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I am sorry for the loss of your uncle. I pray for his soul and for you and your family.

Please understand that many people are restricted from donating blood. I am anemic myself and thus have not been able to donate in quite a long time. There are quite a few other conditions, both social and medical, that legitimately prevent people in USA (and probably in other countries as well) from donating blood.
 
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Thank you. Yes, I understand and in that case well it’s impossible. I wouldn’t want people risking their own lives, that is selfish.
 
Sorry for your loss.

If you would like help spreading the word, let us know where your uncle lived. Perhaps, there is more work to be done to get people to donate blood, and you can be the catalyst.

In Canada, we have blood banks and I don’t think there are any shortages.
 
As a retired Medical Technologist, thank you for understanding the importance of blood donation for those able to donate! While science is working on various types of blood substitutes, none have been shown to be as effective as our own blood. One unit of blood provides for a pack of red cells, a pack of plasma and a pack of platelets…three life saving packs for the price of one donation!

To your uncle, may you find peace with his passing and to your ideas of promoting blood donations, thank you…from the bottom of my heart!
 
My uncle lived in El Salvador. I would love to start something so people can have awareness of the scarcity of blood in some countries.
Thanks
 
Eternal rest grant him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Blessed Holy Spirit, from your infinite storehouse of charity, console his loved ones in this, their time of sorrow.

Amen.
  1. Pray for your uncle, that the Lord assume him into heavenly rest.
  2. Strive in faith to go where your uncle is.
  3. Give blood as you are able. Contact the local blood bank or other organization so as to both donate as well as to promote donation events.
An anecdote: Having had three so-called blood cancers, blood has taken on even more importance in my life. My son’s blood stem cells, transplanted into my bloodstream, took up residence in my marrow and grew into a new immune system which, so far, has seen that none of the cancers has returned. And, after that transplant, I had zero blood counts. I survived solely on transfusions from donors.

So yes, it is both necessary and an act of charity to donate blood.
 
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