TORONTO - Canadian Blood Services is launching a new website where people who have received blood can say thank-you to their anonymous donors, and explain how it has helped them.
The site will allow blood recipients to upload videos of themselves, along with photos and stories.
Ron Vezina, a spokesman for the organization, said Thursday that it's hoped the endeavour will serve as an inspiration to those who are donating blood.
He noted that it's not often that recipients have the opportunity to personally thank blood donors.
One of the posts at www.thankyourdonor.ca, contributed by an aunt, is about Spencer Dolling of Port Coquitlam, B.C., who died last month at the age of 13 after a battle with neuroblastoma. The boy had paid a personal visit a few months ago to thank blood donors at a clinic, and handed out Christmas cards.
"What I posted basically was a little speech that my nephew had written ... that 'a 12-year-old vampire says thanks.' And that was a speech he wrote after he learned about how blood was collected and who blood donors were," his aunt, Vicki Lee, said in an interview from Vancouver.
She noted that Spencer, who was diagnosed in 2002, often needed transfusions to carry on with everyday life and, some days, just to have enough energy to climb stairs.
"Through the course of his treatment over the last six years (he) probably had over 300 blood transfusions and that would have probably involved more than 450 donors," she said.
"One of the things he was known for in his family was: 'I have a question.' And then he would just pause to make sure that he had his mom and dad's attention."
One day, Spencer was at an outpatient clinic at BC Children's Hospital waiting for a blood transfusion and said: "I have a question. Where does all this blood come from?"
That led to a trip across the campus to the blood donor clinic where he met donors and staff.
Later, he made the Christmas card, had it printed and gave it to "lots of donors," said his aunt.
Another posting on the website is by Angela Christopher of Ottawa, who is in remission after receiving blood and blood platelets in her fight against a rare form of blood cancer. However, she may require a stem cell transplant if her cancer returns.
"My prayer of thanks to the donors turned into a mind-blowing epiphany of how truly interconnected we really are as members of the human race and living beings on this earth," she writes in her submission to the website.
"Imagine: your blood and platelets are, in part, why I am here today."
Canadian Blood Services is a not-for-profit organization that manages the blood supply in all the territories and provinces except Quebec.
