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Virginia Blood Services Encourages Community To ‘Donate For Dads’ 

   Written by on June 5, 2015 at 11:27 am

This June, Virginia Blood Services is encouraging the community and donors alike to celebrate a father, grandfather or other loved one(s) with a “Donate for Dads” blood donation.

The campaign recognizes the exemplary strength, hope and courage of fathers who have directly benefitted by the gift of life, or have supported a loved one who has received donated blood.

For one local family, Father’s Day is a reminder each year not only of their dad, but also of the importance of donating blood.

“We lost our father to a disease called cirrhosis of the liver,” begins Richmond resident Broderick Thomas.  He was just 12 when his father, Price A. Thomas, Sr., succumbed to the disease in 1985.

 “He battled this illness for more than five years, suffering through multiple hemorrhaging episodes,” the son relates. “During these episodes, it was so crucial that blood was available to keep him alive while doctors worked to get the attacks under control.”

 In his final days, Thomas required an exorbitant amount of blood to prolong his life.

 “The availability of donated blood was invaluable to us, as his family, because it allowed us to spend those last days with him and say ‘Goodbye,’” Thomas says.  It was then that he and his three siblings vowed to become regular blood donors in his memory.

“Mom would always take us along when she’d donate blood,” the elder Thomas’ daughter, Tabytha, recalls. “At the time, we just didn’t get it. She always told us that as soon as we were old enough, it’s something that we would do, too,” the Roanoke resident adds. “And she was right.”

This year will mark their third decade that Thomas family members have been donating blood to their respective communities.

 To celebrate fathers like Price A. Thomas Sr., Virginia Blood Services this June will provide a customized card to those who donate blood in honor or in memory of their father. As part of the “Donate for Dads” campaign, the specially issued card can be personally presented to the honoree(s), or sent to a patient who recently received blood products from Virginia Blood Services.

Virginia Blood Services encourages those with a story about a father who has personally been impacted by the gift of life, or who has supported a loved one impacted by the gift of life, and shown exemplary strength, hope and courage through the process, to share their story on social media, and bring awareness to our community on the importance of blood donation.

 Share the story on BeTheGivingType.org or on social media @vablood.

 For more information about Virginia Blood Services, visit vablood.org, or call 800-989-4438.

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