Last year I was traveling to visit my family during the holidays. On the way to my parent’s home, I was in a very bad auto accident. The damage was bad to both to me and the car. My face hit the window. There was blood and glass everywhere. I lost a lot of blood – and that was the problem.
You see I have a rare blood-type, AB negative blood, and in addition to having certain health issues that requires special medical attention during blood transfusion, my blood is hard to get in an emergency because it cannot be stored. Basically, I need rare blood that is ‘fresh’. This makes it hard to get unless I can plan ahead.
Throughout my entire life I have been very fortunate and extremely careful to never get cut or lose blood that would require blood transfusions. My parents always taught me to be extra safe, extra careful and that if I ever needed blood, that it would be severely life threatening. I knew that if I ever needed blood in an emergency, that I would probably die.
There I was on the way to celebrate with family and instead of heading to the holiday dinner, I was heading to the hospital unconscious and bleeding. I don’t remember anything after the accident’s impact. I was out of it. When I got to the emergency room, I was told my sister was already at the hospital and that she was ready to give her blood. My sister knew only she could save me.
It was a very bad situation for me but having my sister in my location exactly in my time of need saved my life. Once she heard I was hurt and bleeding, she knew that she was the only one that would be in the same vicinity to meet my blood-type requirements.
