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| Patricia Berkeley with two Blood Donor Center staff members |
Congratulations to Children's Hospital Boston Blood Donor of the Month for September 2009, Patricia Berkeley!
Pat Berkeley has an amazing story. In the 70's, Pat's oldest son was treated at the Jimmy Fund and Children's Hospital Boston for rhabdomyosarcoma. Not long after, her second oldest son lost his leg to osteogenesis sarcoma, or bone cancer, causing him to spend 190 nights at Children's. In 1981, after her son's surgery, Pat decided she wanted to give back -- and donating blood seemed like a perfect opportunity: "it's an awe-inspiring thing to do."
Years later, Pat Berkeley's second eldest son and granddaughter were in a car accident that caused her son to lose his life and her granddaughter to be rushed to Children's. She had broken several limbs and needed exceptional pediatric care. Robin Willis, a former staff member of the Blood Donor Center recalls how strong Pat was during this ordeal, "holding it all together for her granddaughter." This accident reinforced the special tie Pat feels with Children's.
Pat feels that donating blood is her way of "giving life back and showing [her] gratitude." She also believes that donating blood is "hereditary"; her grandmother was a blood donor for years after her son was injured in the Marine Corps.
Today Pat has donated 115 pints of blood for the patients at Children's Hospital, Boston: "I continue to donate because I can help other kids - 4 kids - with just a little blood donation."
For information on how you can become a platelet donor, please call 617-355-6677.
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