The need for blood is ever constant at hospitals across the world.

For seven years, Adam Humphrey, teacher at Holy Trinity Academy, has been rallying students to donate blood at local clinics.

Humphrey says he's always supported the cause, but he really started to get behind it after the birth of his first daughter.

"When my first child was born, her name is Micah, and she's super cool. She's in grade 2 at St. Mary's. Micah Humphrey. That's her name. Anyway, when she was born there were complications and both she and my wife were in life threatening circumstances. The first probably two weeks of my daughter's life, it was nothing but horrific meetings with doctors and terrible news but because of all the blood donors and the hard work by medical people and all the optimism and faith everybody had, I have a very healthy wife and a very healthy daughter; there's been no long-term complications. I can remember sitting in a hospital room after about two months of being there, and we were reading cards. A lot of them said "this is a miracle" and "our prayers have been answered," and one day my wife just kind of snapped and said "I'm sick of being told I'm lucky, I'm sick of this being called a miracle. Everybody who's saying this is a miracle needs to go donate blood." As soon as she said that I took it to heart and decided I was going to use my spot at HTA as a platform for this charity. I feel like I owe them."

Since then, Humphrey has encouraged students aged 17 and over to donate to local clinics, many of which are held at HTA.

Humphrey says the process really doesn't take very long.

"The actual donation process takes between 5 and 10 minutes typically. After that's done you sit in a recovery area where I give you juice and cookies, and you sit there for about 25 minutes and then you're free to go. The whole process should not take more than an hour."

The next blood donor clinic at HTA is on February 19th.

Those wishing to donate can book an appointment online at blood.ca, over the phone: 1-888-2-DONATE (1-888-236-6283) or via the GiveBlood app.

 

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