LEXINGTON (WACH) -- According to the American Red Cross, each day in the United States, there is a need for a blood transfusion every two seconds, which means 22,000 blood donations are needed everyday to meet need. In the Palmetto State, that need is in excess of 500 units daily.
To meet those needs, over six million units of blood are donated annually, from which nine point two million blood products are distributed to hospitals and patients, including Heather Sweatt of Lexington.
In two thousand two, with just after graduating from nursing school, Sweatt was diagnosed with Leukemia, a cancer which attacks blood and blood marrow. Over the following two years, Sweatt underwent treatments, including chemotherapy, and routine blood transfusions. “I probably had eight to ten transfusions, along with platelets,” Sweatt says, “If it wasn’t for blood donations, I probably would not have made it.”
Heather Sweatt, thankful for blood, and the love and support of her family, did beat leukemia, which has been in remission for over five years. Three years ago, Sweatt beat more odds, when she and her husband also celebrated the birth of their son, Brayden.
Today, everyone in the Midlands can be a life saver, as WACH Fox and the American Red Cross invite you to 6th annual “Drive for Life” blood drive from 1 to 8 p.m. in the Community Room at the Village at Sandhill on Clemson Road (near JC Penney).
“If people only realized how much of an impact they can make in somebody’s life…one person CAN make a difference,” says Heather Sweatt.
(Story courtsey of Good Day Columbia's Tyler Ryan)
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWACH