And second, I wanted to share my perspective with Adam growing up, my own father's experience with needing constant blood transfusions, in my letter to Dr. Holmberg I wrote yesterday explaining why I think this ban should be revised in a sensible way.
Dear Dr. Holmberg,
As an American citizen deeply troubled by the permanent FDA ban on the donation of blood by gay and bisexual men, I truly appreciate your generosity and transparency in providing your email address and your willingness to hear all of the personal stories that exist across our great country.
I have a son, Adam. From the day that Adam proudly brought home the parental permission slip from his high school asking me to allow the American Red Cross to draw a pint of his blood, he was hooked on the "pay it forward" concept of blood donation. All through high school, through summer vacations and throughout his 4 year college career, as soon as the telephone call came from the American Red Cross, his appointment was made. He had watched his elderly grandfather, who suffered from a deadly form of mylodysplastic anemia for 2 years, receive blood transfusions every 6 weeks at first, then every 4 weeks, then bi-weekly, until his eventual death from this disease.
Adam, a devoted grandson, who happens to have an O negative blood type, would attempt to coax, charm and persuade me to join him in blood donating. As I was often the driver, he would have plenty of time to recite all the benefits of donating blood on the long ride to the site. As a daughter of a man who had a deadly disease, I was nervous about giving any of my red blood cells away and when I didn't pass the "iron" test for donating, my dutiful son continued to regularly do the donating for me.
Until the day it all stopped.
I noticed that the calls weren't coming in from the Red Cross any longer and Adam no longer was trying to encourage me to donate. He had come out of the very narrow closet he was in and his blood was no longer desired.
As a mom, I was heartbroken for my son who was such a proponent of giving away what came to him freely. His blood donation card was nearly filled up and he looked forward to the day when his picture would be in the local newspaper as a multiple gallon donor.
I went ahead and reluctantly accepted the FDA ruling, until today.
When I came to understand that there are other ways, new testing options to keep our blood safe, when I see that many other enlightened nations allow gay men to be donors, when I hear that a substantial coalition of blood donation centers, including the American Red Cross, the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) and America's Blood Centers, support the revision of the ban, and when I realize that I could have lost my dad 2 years earlier than I did if the nation's blood supply was diminished - and very importantly, when I find out that lifting the ban would result in approximately 219,000 additional pints of blood added to the nation's supply each year, then I am compelled to add my voice to the many who are asking for a revision of this outdated ban.
Dr. Holmberg, help other generous Americans, like Adam, give back to those in need and act to strengthen our nation's blood supply. Study the current policy and come up with a medically sound revised policy. As stated on the American Red Cross website "Type O negative blood donors NEEDED! Type donors can make the difference between an adequate blood supply and a summer shortage." Don't let that happen to all of the many recipients in dire need of multiple blood transfusions, like my dad.
And let Adam donate once again, along with all the other men who have the desire and the humanitarian heart to give away what has been given so generously and freely to them.
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