Give Blood to the Murphy 400 Fund

Today marks the final day of the Murphy 400 Fund blood drive. At the end of the day yesterday, May 21st, the 400 fund stood at 608 pints. Donations that came in yesterday and today are being entered by BloodSource tonight, so I should have the final totals sometime tomorrow. (My guess – we’ll come out with 613 pints total).

Hopefully, all donors will continue to donate regularly. The need for blood is always great, and just as with my family, there are thousands of success stories out there. Here’s one I learned today that puts it into great perspective –

My wife Kathleen and I donated blood today to “send off” the 400 drive. We were talking with some of the friends we have made in the BloodSource organization, and we were told the story of a young mother of three who needed a bone marrow transplant. As you know, finding a match is a painstaking task, and can take a long time. While this young mother waited, she required blood transfusions. Many transfusions. A whole LOT of transfusions. She received 47 gallons of blood to keep her alive while she waited for her bone marrow match. That amounts to 376 pints – almost the original goal of the 400 fund.

That young mother finally found her match, and is doing well today. But it took hundreds of people in this community to get her to remission, otherwise she would have died.

Blood cannot be synthesized. It has a finite shelf life. Like any precious natural resource, it must be harvested in order to use it. You never know when you may have the need – and if you do have the need, you don’t want the cupboard to be bare. This is why people MUST continue to donate blood, and why I cannot close out the 400 fund.

The Murphy 400 Fund has made too much progress to be a one-time shot, so my family has decided to keep the fund open. We decided the month of May will be the annual month to solicit blood donations to the 400 fund, with plans to have a big community drive on the third Sunday in May. A structure to do this is in the back of my head, and I may call on a few people to help me see this through to fruition. I hope I can count on all of you to keep the Murphy 400 Army of Donors growing! Spread the word and keep it alive. For now, you can get info on the 400 fund here at http://murphy400fund.blogspot.com

I have many people to thank. First and foremost, everyone listed on this site who donated -- thank you for your commitment to our community. All the first time donors who gave to this fund -- I hope you will continue to give blood! Thanks to the folks at BloodSource: Leslie, Dawn, Kristy, Debbie, Kendra, Melissa and all of the staff that helped me make this goal a reality. John Wallace and Jeff Vail for a great inaugural blood drive for the Elk Grove community in December -- superheroes both! Principal Lynne Tafoya and her team at Hiram Johnson High School for their drive that got me over my goal, and helped to make 600 pints a possibility. And last but not least, my wonderful wife Kathleen and my sons who were so excited for this effort from day one.

So, to close -- Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who contributed to the Murphy 400 Fund. Each and every one of you saved lives with your donation, so please keep contributing! And when you do, I hope you will continue to designate the Murphy 400 Fund as your donor club.

Yes, you do save lives.

With kind regards from my whole family –
Tim Murphy

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