Blood Donor Highlight

Story as told by Penny

I have been married for 26 years, and my two children are in their 20's. My hobbies are gardening and quilting. I love visiting the country where I grew up to fish and 4-wheel and spend time with my family.

I have been giving blood since college. But when my daughter needed a blood transfusion the day she was born, that changed my perspective. When I was pregnant with my daughter, Morgan, I had placenta previa. The doctors kept a close watch on me and through sonograms decided they decided that the placenta had moved far enough so that they were not worried about it during delivery.

Morgan lost enough blood before she was delivered to require a transfusion. It was a very scary situation.

Since that day, I have really stepped up my frequency of giving blood. It's something I'm very proud of.

I am a teacher at Frontier High School and have been teaching for a total of 27 years. I am also a ConnectLife co-advisor for the ConnectLife Club at my school. Each year, we run two in-house blood drives.

The staff is always professional and courteous. I am a bit weird because I like to watch the phlebotomist insert the needle. Every one of them has been gentle. That is not always the case in other medical facilities. I always try to donate for our two blood drives at school in addition to another donation at a ConnectLife site during the summer months.

Being the co-advisor for our ConnectLife Club also allows me to educate the students on blood and organ donation. I try to be a role model and donate as much as I can.