Thomas W. Petty
The Livermore Community blood drive, organized by local resident and businessman Thomas Petty, in partnership with the American Red Cross, reached a major milestone, collecting its 2,000th unit of blood at its last drive on December 18.
Each unit of blood collected has the potential to save the lives of up to three people, which means as many as 6,000 lives may have been saved as a result of the blood collected at the community drive.
Petty, from WSI in Livermore (http://www.wsismartsolutions.com), has sponsored the community drive for more than seven years. In 2009 alone, the drive collected 397 units of blood over the course of six drives. Last June, the Red Cross presented Petty with the President’s Volunteer Service Award, a national honor offered in recognition of his volunteer service.
“I am proud of the generous residents of Livermore, providing so much blood,” Petty said. “We may not know the many people we have been helped, but in the case of Korrine Croghan, a Granada High School student who lost her fight against a rare form of cancer in 2008, we do.”
According to Dana and Matt Croghan’s blog about their daughter Korrine’s battle with cancer, people who came out to donate blood last year had a direct impact on her life.
An excerpt from their blog (http://korrinecroghan.blogspot.com) reads, “Your blood let Korrine live a little longer and feel so much better. It gave us more time with our daughter and improved her quality of life. We would have lost her in April of 2008 had it not been for the blood drive that collected 80 pints of A- blood. She used all that blood and even more than that. Her body could only receive A- blood. If it were not for your blood donations we would have lost her sooner. We are forever grateful for your donations of blood and platelets.”
The residents of Livermore have demonstrated a strong commitment to blood donation that stretches beyond the community blood drive.
The Lawrence Livermore Labs blood drive is one of the largest ongoing drives in the Bay Area. Last year, Granada High School collected 172 units of blood at a single drive – the largest number of units collected by the Red Cross at a one-day high school blood drive in the Bay Area in more than 10 years. And last June, the “Team KC” and Livermore Community blood drives teamed up in honor of Korrine and netted 135 units of blood in one day.
The next Livermore community blood drive will take place at its regular location and time – the Robert Livermore Community Center, 4444 East Avenue, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, February 19.
To schedule an appointment for the drive, please go to http://www.redcrossblood.org and use the sponsor code “RLCC”. You must be at least 17 years old (16 with signed parental consent) and in good health in order to donate blood. Please bring a photo ID with you.
If you have any questions, please contact the Red Cross at 1-800-RED CROSS or Thomas Petty at 925-980-8164.
