Justine’s Blood Drive a Huge Success

I know Rainel will be posting more details about this shortly, but I spoke to him about the blood drive on Wednesday night and wanted to give everyone a quick update.

More than 90 people showed up to give blood in honor of Justine, which was impressive since there were only supposed to be 60 available time slots and only 45 were filled according to our online reservation system as of Wednesday morning. I got a little worried Tuesday night when we started getting last minute cancellations, but I was also impressed that the online booking system was working out well. The CHLA staff was able to handle the overflow and said it was the most successful community blood drive they’ve ever done.

Rainel said that in addition to friends and family, there were lots of people who had no connection to Justine that came in to donate because they saw a flyer, read it in The Signal or heard about it via word of mouth or this web site. Donations of food were even delivered to the location for blood drive participants.

I think it’s both beautiful and humbling that the community responsed in such a manner. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported the blood drive effort. I’m pretty sure future blood drives will occur in the future, but the focus now is on platelet donation. Platelets are key to Justine’s recovery, and a shortage at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles means there’s an ongoing need. For more information on how to donate platelets for Justine, click the Donating Platelets link at the top of the page.