Mar 7, 2009 8:00 pm US/Mountain
Mom Celebrates Daughter's B-Day With A Blood Drive
ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (CBS) ―
-
-
"I was maybe not supposed to be here but now I am here, because other people donated blood and I was able to receive it," said Cara Bothun.
CBS
"With lots of blood" is very unusual way to celebrate a birthday.
One mom in Minnesota has organized a blood drive on her daughter's birthday for the past three years. There is a very personal reason for it, reports CBS station WCCO-TV.
At a 3-year-old's birthday you'd expect to see balloons and toys. Instead, two blue Memorial Blood Center buses pulled up to the Bothun's home in Arden Hills.
A couple hundred people were expected to donate on a day that few years ago, Cara Bothun might not have lived through. C-section complications caused her to have an emergency hysterectomy. She was transfused with 19 units of blood.
"I was maybe not supposed to be here but now I am here, because other people donated blood and I was able to receive it," said Bothun.
Ruthie Schneider was one of those 19 people who donated that blood, and Saturday the two met for the first time.
"It's overwhelming, all the people that have come out to support. You can just feel the support and the love as soon as you walk in the house," said Schneider.
"An amazing to be able to look someone in the eye and say 'Thank you for saving my life," said Bothun.
So, while it might not be your typical childrens' party, Bothun knows that in a few years it will probably mean a lot more.
It took everybody about an hour to donate. Through Memorial Blood Centers, Cara Bothun has been able to meet about 12 of the people who donated the blood she got on the day of her daughter's birth.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Comments