Tatiana Olivares, a junior at RHS, teamed up with American Red Cross and the Knights of Columbus last Friday to hold a blood drive in memory of her cousin, Naomi Ruelas.
“I am excited to share that we had a great turnout at our blood drive this past Friday, April 1. I partnered with American Red Cross and the Knights of Columbus, Rockdale chapter, to bring this life-saving event to our rural community. I was very pleased with the drive overall and the willingness of the donors to give the gift of life,” Olivares said.
“My cousin, Naomi N. Ruelas, died at the young age of 17 from an auto-immune disease called Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). She was the same age as I am now and she never got to experience her senior prom or her graduation,” she added as the reason for her devotion for giving blood and holding blood drives.
Her blood drive last week had 33 total blood donations of which 22 were whole blood and 11 Power Red donations. A Power Red donation gives the donor an opportunity to give nearly twice the amount of red cells to help more patients. This type of donation uses an automated process that separates your red blood cells from the other blood components, and then safely and comfortably returns your plasma and platelets to you.
This amount of blood has the potential to save 99 lives.
“We would not have been able to do it without the support of our local Knights of Columbus who were very generous and allowed us to use their facility to host the blood drive. The need for blood is constant and, through the efforts of our fellow Rockdalians, we were able to replenish blood supplies as we go through this decade’s worst blood shortage,” she added.
Olivares said, “You may wonder why this is important to a small-town kid like me, but it really hits close to home when someone you love was able to extend their life by the gracious gift of blood transfusions from other donors across the globe. I hope the blood we collected at this event will contribute to someone’s well-being and maybe answer someone’s prayer.”
The Olivares family has been organizing blood drives for eight years and plans to hold another in June to commemorate the nineyear anniversary of her cousin’s passing.
“My family and I are grateful for the blood transfusions she received that gave her more time with us and, for that reason, we began hosting blood drives in order to give back what was given to Naomi, but, also in her memory,” Olivares stated.
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