About a year and a half ago, Kathy Halliday’s husband, David, told her there was a Unyts blood drive at the Williamsville Public Library and he wanted to go. He had leukemia and thought it would be a good way to give back. Kathy had never donated before. The fear of the unknown, the needles, and everything else that scares people away were holding her back. But she decided to go with him.
They found out that because he had leukemia, he’s not able to donate any more. Kathy wanted to donate still. “It was just a half hour and there was nothing to it,” she says. She couldn’t imagine anyone not doing it again after getting through the first time. It’s about helping someone in need.
After her donation, Kathy found out her blood type and that she would be a good candidate for donating platelets. Her husband, her best friend, had needed platelets. So how could she not do it? Now Kathy donates platelets regularly at our Eastern Hills Donation Center. She wants to do as much as she can now because she may not be able to this at some time in the future.
David goes with her to every appointment. It’s something that they do together. The last couple times Kathy has come to donate, they even ended up with some of the same people who were donating the last time. It’s like another family. And same goes for the staff! “Kathy is a beautiful person inside and out,” says Veda, one of the supervisors.
True to that statement, Kathy has also been making prayer shawls for patients receiving chemotherapy after going to Roswell with her mother for treatments. She now makes over 200 shawls per year and got her sister-in-law involved too. As part of our donor rewards program, Kathy used points to get Amazon gift cards. She ended up using the gift cards to buy heart buttons that she attaches to each shawl with a note, “Handmade with love.”
Kathy truly believes that there’s no better feeling than when you’re giving and helping others in need. We are very fortunate to have her as a donor and as part of this community.